Reckless Disregard For Truth

Newspaper editorialists are quite fond of looking down their noses at those who play fast and loose with the truth. They like to depict those who spin or lie as beneath contempt, slimy, dirty, despicable, and evil.

Given that, how can they possibly rationalize today's drive-by smearing of Supreme Court Justice John Roach?

You might not like John Roach. You might hate him and want him to lose this November and go away. Even so, you can't justify the treatment he got on the editorial page in today's CJ.

They define a campaign poll by Justice Roach they haven't seen as a "low down, dirty poll." They turn a "no comment" answer to another paper into "his handlers at first wouldn't even admit ... they had conducted the survey." That would be the low-down, dirty survey they have never seen, but feel compelled to comment on nonetheless. The paper states without attribution to any source (the source happens to be the campaign of Roach's November opponent): "A number of angry voters say they were asked in the phone survey such slimy questions as whether it matters that Mr. Roach's opponent is "married with no children," is "soft on crime" and "feels that judges can create laws if the legislature has failed to act."

This isn't true.

What is important is The Courier Journal might know that it isn't true. What is critical is they should show some kind of discretion when they aren't sure what the truth is.

That is what libel laws are for.

It is tempting -- and perhaps prudent -- to ignore the wild spinning from Judge Mary Noble's campaign. Having the state's most venerable newspaper vilify him may be a net-positive for Justice Roach.

But today's editorial provides an open-and-shut case of libel and it would be fun to watch the pointy-heads at the CJ have to defend the indefensible when it counts.

Fletcher, Worley, Moberly

Hard to miss a strange sign on Main Street in Richmond at the Chamber of Commerce. It says "Ernie Fletcher, Ed Worley, Harry Moberly, August 25."

I've gotten several calls from people wondering why Governor Fletcher is campaigning with Democrats this close to an election.

Well, he isn't.

Governor Fletcher is coming to Richmond to announce a Recovery Kentucky Center.

The General Assembly has nothing to do with this, so Worley and Moberly will just be getting in the way trying to pick up a little free publicity.

Some D's We Actually Need

Two Kentucky schools have institutionalized grade inflation in order to fake better results. They have eliminated D's from their grading system.

I did something similar with my kids when they started school. I told them D stood for "dead" and that they didn't want to know what F stood for.

But being non-violent types, administrators at no-D schools are telling teachers they get D students back for a repeat unless they bump them up to a C.

There are, of course, no indications this policy does anything good for anyone.

Putting students with a D in in-school suspension would be far more effective at incentivizing achievement.

Old Messes

Steve Henry still says he didn't take the $162,000 he paid back to the government to settle his Medicare/Medicaid fraud case.

I don't know. Maybe he didn't.

The former Paul Patton lieutenant governor should definitely run for the Democratic nomination for governor next year.

Return Of Pence

Ryan Alessi has the story.

Grayson, Napier Campaigns Roll On

The Danville Advocate Messenger caught up with two gubernatorial candidates in Lancaster yesterday.

Good News For Gov. Fletcher?

Brian Goettl at Conservative Edge reports the Kentucky Supreme Court may pick up the merit hiring case.

An opportunity to get out of indictment limbo should be very good news to Ernie Fletcher.

Barack Obama, Gas Hog

Beautiful.

Actually, this foolishness about fossil fuel usage hastening the end of the world is no more true coming from these folks now than it has been for the last half century. It is pathetic that the industry that keeps the free world moving faces such brainless attacks today.

Nonetheless, it is fun to see one of the chief purveyors of hot air get caught like this.

Mary Lou Marzian To Chair KDP?

Some Dems are ready to make Chairman Jerry Lundergan walk the plank. It will be fun to see what they might do next.

Thanks For Saving Us Democrats!

On a day like today when the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 132 points, I'm sure glad Democrats saved us from bankrupting ourselves by allowing some people to opt for private investment accounts for their Social Security dollars.

Whither Ernie?

There can be disagreement about how the Fletcher Administration reached its current doldrums, but few would argue anymore that no real problems exist.

If you were advising the Governor, what would you suggest he do?

Two things don't count: suggesting either that he resign or that everything is fine are both out of bounds.

I think pushing for repeal of Certificate of Need laws and giving parents some form of school choice would help generate some much-needed support.

Good: Republicans For Lieberman

When an opponent is hurting himself, the shrewd action is to let him do it.

Watching Republicans save the once-proud Democratic Party from its own Ned Lamontiacs runs counter to that old dictum, but it is the right thing to do.

If Ned Lamont runs Joe Lieberman out of the U.S. Senate, he benefits Republicans by pulling Democrats to the left on the War on Terror. It won't happen. Fortunately, Republicans are playing a role for the good of the nation. There aren't enough conservative voters in Connecticut to elect a Republican, but independents, Republicans, and Democrats will come together in Connecticut to preserve common sense on the issue that matters most to America.

While we are all watching Connecticut, it is time to get Alan Schlesinger to drop his embarrassing run for the Senate. America needs his votes (about 8%) to re-elect Lieberman.

Divided Loyalties

No, I'm not talking here about Republicans. The party of fighting cats will have kittens at election time. It's Democrats in a quandry.

Sometime between now and November it will occur to Kentucky Democrats who want Ben Chandler to run for Governor that they have to hope their party doesn't take over the U.S. House of Representatives this year.

If they do win, he stays put and the Dems are left flat-footed for 2007.

Actually, I think Democrats will wish after the November elections they had been able to find some candidates named "Generic Democrat." And Rep. Chandler still won't run for Governor.

Later Filing Date, Less Corruption

Rep. William "Cash in My Freezer" Jefferson (D-LA) faces 12 opponents in his bid for re-election. Last Friday was the filing deadline, so there won't be any more. If his state's filing deadline were in January like it is in Kentucky, he would likely have no opponent.

To clean up the mess in Kentucky, we need to move the filing deadline for elections in the state.

'06 Will Be The Epic Battle

Political types keep saying we need to stop letting the 2007 statewide races distract from the Congressional, General Assembly, and local races happening this year.

There is no chance of that happening. "I'm concentrating on the 2006 elections" is code for "Don't ask me any hard questions about next year's Governor's race." But the aftershocks of 2006 will still be felt well into the 2007 election season. And then we start on 2008.

Speaking of 2008, here is one for John McCain.

Here Come The 2007 Dems

Steve Henry is set to announce tomorrow his choice of a running mate: state Treasurer Jonathan Miller.

Jerry Lundergan As Sandy Berger

Remember when former Clintonista Sandy Berger got caught sneaking classified documents in his socks? I thought Jerry Lundergan might be doing the same thing when I read this story in which he contradicted media reports and his own campaign finance filings to claim KDP is doing well financially.

The question is, where is he hiding the money?

Time To Apologize To Larry Forgy

Larry Forgy had a bad day yesterday.

In addition to losing the vote for a seat on the Kentucky Republican Party Executive Committee -- which should be a given for a former gubernatorial nominee -- he got slandered in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Letter writer Kurt Volk of Lexington said "Remember Larry Forgy, who kept almost $1 million in campaign funds after pulling out?"

This never happened. Kurt Volk of Lexington is making stuff up to attack Republicans. The Herald-Leader should apologize for printing this.

Mark Twain On Fletcher/Pence

Rumors of Steve Pence's political demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Lucas First Dem To Get 'Liebermanned'

SurveyUSA.com reports Republican Rep. Geoff Davis leading Democrat challenger Ken Lucas in their latest poll.

If the widely anticipated Dem takeover of Congress is turned back this November, the post-mortem on the election will be very interesting. And it will have a lot to do with the lack of new ideas on the Democrat side. But also, Republican supporters are going to have long talks with their elected representatives. Being better than Democrats is one thing, but simply taking that for granted and continuing the spending orgy is a terrible disservice to our nation.