Friday, August 25, 2006

Disloyalists pledge to continue shooting their party's governor in the back

According to reports today, Stumbo is going to stop shooting the Governor in the front, but Republican officials have declared they are not going to stop shooting the Governor in the back.

Those Disloyalists. They're so hard to please.

Bill Stone, former Jefferson County Republican Chairman, asked a great question in his radio debate with Jack Richardson, current Jefferson County Republican Chairman and one of the leaders of the Disloyalists. The debate took place on the other day on Front Page with Sue Wiley in Lexington. "What are you going to do," asked Stone, "if Gov. Fletcher wins the Republican nomination? Are you going to support him?"

Richardson tried to dance around an answer, but finally said he would.

Then Stone ran him all the way through: "Are you going to have any credibility at that point?"

Of course, Richardson couldn't answer this one. But this is the position Republican officials find themselves in: they digging themselves a hole they will not be able to dig themselves out of.

Behind all this is the Republican puppetmaster himself: Mitch McConnell. If this is a display of his fabled political skills, there may have to be a reassessment when this is all over.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Is It Time for the Republican Disloyalists to Lay Down Their Weapons?

Gov. Fletcher appears to have succeeded in resolving the battle with the state's leading Democrat. It is significant that he has done this almost completely without the help of his own party, which left him in the lurch by abandoning him from the outset. Battling Stumbo is hard enough; doing it alone and prevailing is no mean achievment.

So what does this mean for the Governor's problems within his own party? Maybe the Governor could now proceed with settlement discussions with the Disloyalist Republicans who have been shooting the Governor in the back while Stumbo has been firing from the front.

For all practical purposes, the Disloyalists have been in league with Democrats against the Governor. Now that Stumbo has withdrawn his forces, will the Disloyalists lay down their weapons?

Charges Against Governor Dismissed

The Courier-Journal is reporting that special judge David Melcher has dismised the charges against Gov. Fletcher "without prejudice", meaning they can't be brought again.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Why evangelicals can't write

Great article in the new Credenda Agenda (issue topic: Flannery O'Connor) on why evangelicals can't write: http://www.credenda.org/issues/18-2liturgia.php. I've never heard this thesis before, and I don't know if Zwingli's the real culprit, but his main point is right on.