People buy into the leader before they buy into the vision. ― John C. Maxwell
Today’s quick hits deal with these important subjects:
- Gazette & Census
- Gallup – Confidence in Institutions
- Reagan & Trump
Tag Archives: Ronald Reagan
The Wednesday Read: Trump’s Exam, Approval Rating, & Greitens
Some people hear voices…some see invisible people…others have no imagination whatsoever. – Unknown
Today’s read deals with these important issues:
- The Medical Exam
- First Year Approval Ratings
- Missouri Governor Eric Greitens
Monday’s Political Odds & Ends
There’s a big, wonderful world out there for you. It belongs to you. It’s exciting and stimulating and rewarding. Don’t cheat yourselves out of this promise. – Nancy Reagan
Happy Monday! Today is another one of those days in which there are several major stories out there that I want to comment about – so it’s another “Political Odds & Ends” day!
Today’s topics include:
- Gianforte’s Lt Governor
- Bullock & the Plane
- Darby (MT) & Islam
- Nancy Reagan
- GOP Presidential Race
Montana Politics: O’Hara v. Koopman
My favorite President, Ronald Reagan, was once quoted saying, “The person who agrees with you 80% of the time is an ally not a 20% traitor.”
Wisdom like that is missing from today’s Republican Party. In recent years a candidate like Reagan would probably face a challenge from a Tea Party candidate if he ran for public office in Montana.
Today (March 5) the Great Falls Tribune has published a couple of “Montana Soap Box” opinions, one from Republican State Rep. Jesse O’Hara and one from Republican Public Service Commission member Roger Koopman. You can read their views HERE and HERE.
State of the Union
Maybe I’m a political nerd, but I really get excited about State of the Union speeches. One thing I don’t do is watch the so-called experts talk about the speech on cable news afterwards. I briefly checked in on the “Republican response” and then I watched other channels.
I think I watched about 30 minutes of “Smokey and the Bandit,” for some reason, which was probably better than all three responses from the right.
I almost always go back the next day and read the President’s State of the Union speech to see what I missed. With the cameras panning around and the graphics flashing on the screen, plus sending and reading Tweets, parts of the speech can be missed.
The speech was about 6,923 words, and it lasted a little over one hour and five minutes. (SOURCE)
The President started his speech with “Today in America, a teacher spent extra time with a student who needed it, and did her part to lift America’s graduation rate to its highest level in more than three decades.”
Since I am married to a teacher and know how hard teachers work and how much extra time they put in to help children, I was happy to see him lead off his speech praising them.
A few minutes into the speech I tweeted, “Maybe Obama should have started his speech with “we all pretty much suck at running this country.” I think many of us are tired of Washington. Even the President said, “…there are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments.”
When the President said he was going to have Vice President Biden “lead an across-the-board reform of America’s training programs.” After hearing he assigned the VP additional duties, I was worried the President would say, “I’m also asking the Vice President to take over the job of running our land-based nuclear forces.”
This morning after hearing what the Republicans said about the speech, I think about the only way the GOP would have hated the President’s speech more would have been if Queen Latifah had showed up and married a bunch of people.
Gallup’s Most Admired for 2013
When Gallup published their most admired list for 2013, the first thing I thought was this will send conservatives over the edge.
Why? Gallup reports, “For the sixth consecutive year, Barack Obama ranks as the Most Admired Man among Americans, and Hillary Clinton is again the Most Admired Woman. Both won by comfortable margins.”
I think the key line is “Both won by comfortable margins.”
For as much hatred that is spewed from the right about Obama and Clinton, they are more admired than Pope Francis, former President George W. Bush, and even former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
The Sunday Message
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress. – President Ronald Reagan
Thank goodness that did not happen!
When I read that quote, I tried to remember all 10 of the Commandments. How many can you remember? If you are like me, maybe you can remember about half of them.
If you’ve been around for a while like me, then maybe your lasting thought about the 10 Commandments is Charlton Heston playing Moses in The Ten Commandments movie and carrying them down Mount Sinai.
Take a few minutes and read them today – they are found in Exodus 20. Click HERE.
Have a great week!
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