Fallin Gives GOP Radio Address
Freshman Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, has been tapped to give the Republican radio address this week. In her remarks, she criticizes the Democrats in Congress for the budget approved this week and for the electronic surveillance bill passed on Friday.
You can listen to her remarks at this site:
http://www.gop.gov/web/guest/weekly_radio_address
Mickey Edwards Has New Book
Former Oklahoma Congressman Mickey Edwards has written a just-released book called “Reclaiming Conservatism.”
Edwards, a Republican who represented the Oklahoma City area in Congress from 1977 to 1993, has taught at Harvard and Princeton and is now with the educational Aspen Institute.
He was a Reagan conservative and, when he was defeated for reelection, was chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee.
Edwards said in a recent e-mail, “For 40 years _ in Congress and in the conservative movement _ I’ve been described as a ‘conservative’ leader.
“But today, ‘conservative’ has come to stand for ideas and policies that are the antithesis of what conservatives once stood for.
“A political movement that based its beliefs on the fundamental principles of the Constitutution, limited government, divided power and citizen rights now too often champions just the opposite: an all-powerful presidency, an acquiescent Congress, government secrecy, federal wiretaps without a court order or judicial oversight and virtually no limits on the intrusive reach of government.
“Conservatives, who were once the strongest advocates for American liberties and constitutional guarantees, have today become a threat to the very principles that have made America exceptional and that they once embraced.”
My office mate, editorial writer Mark Green, is scheduled to do a video interview with Edwards on Monday. The interview will be posted on newsok.com
President Bush Sings (Kind Of)
Photo by Kristy Khachigian
President Bush serenaded members of the Washington press corps Saturday night at the annual dinner of the Gridiron Club, made up of journalists.
It was a surprise to most of the members of the club and the 600 or so guests when the president, wearing a western hat, took the stage at the end of the evening — which is spent mostly with club members singing silly songs about politicians.
Instead of speaking at the head table and telling a few jokes, which is what the president usually does, President Bush took the stage to sing his own silly song. It was, in essence, a farewell, to the tune of the old song “Green, Green Grass of Home.”
Bush, from Texas, adapted it to a color we from the Southwest can all understand — the “brown, brown grass of home.”
Here are some of the lyrics the president sang (and, by the way, the word “sang” is pretty generous, but he had some help from two very talented Marine Band singers):
“I spend my days clearing brush
“Clear my head of all the fuss
“Like that big fuss you made over Harriet and Brownie
“Down the lane I look and here comes Scooter
“Finally free of the prosecutor
“It’s good to touch the brown, brown grass of home.”
President Bush was criticized a few years ago when, for another press dinner, he joked about not being able to find any WMDs. I’ve heard some criticism this week about the lines in this song _ specifically that he shouldn’t be joking about Michael Brown’s handling of the Katrina crisis and Scooter Libby’s conviction regarding the leak of a former CIA agent’s name.
What do you think?
Washington Bureau Goes Video
Video killed the radio star, according to the 80s novelty song. Hopefully editorial writer Mark Green and I will survive it.
Three weeks ago, video experts Dave Morris, David Jones and Scott Horton from The Oklahoman came to Washington to install a video set here in our offices and teach us how to use it.
Ed Kelley, Editor of The Oklahoman and a smooth pro on his regular videos on newsok.com, came along to assure us that we too could speak coherently with a camera trained on us. That will be for you to judge.
So far, Mark Green has done several commentaries. I did an interview last week with Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, part of which has been posted on The Oklahoman’s web site; more segments of that interview will be posted later.
We have other interviews planned in the coming days. Hope you can tune in.
Fallin Speaks Out on Eavesdropping Bill
The U.S. House is battling today over legislation that authorizes warantless wiretapping of foreign calls that involve suspected terrorists. The Senate passed a bill last month, but the House has been deadlocked over whether to give telecommunications companies legal immunity for cooperating with the government.
Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, spoke on the House floor on the issue on Monday. Here is a link to what she said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLd5SBuklw
