By Jonathan Miller, on Sun Jan 15, 2012 at 9:00 AM ET New to The Recovering Politician? Would you enjoy some good reading on a slow, cold holiday?
Enjoy the Best of The Recovering Politician 2011 below:
 We’ll start with Me because, well…uh…I paid for that microphone. I started the site by explaining Why March Madness Matters and ended the year arguing that Adam Sandler Saved the Jews. In between, I made The Liberal Case for Israel, I outlined Debt Ceilings and Credit Downgrade for Dummies, and shared my Top Five lists for about everything. (My favorite – Jew-ish Gentiles in Pop Culture). All and all, I can’t thank you enough for indulging my part-time, unpaid writing career.
 Our most popular writer, hands down, has been contributing RP and former Missouri State Senator Jeff Smith. Jeff’s first piece — the story of his rise into national celebrity, his dramatic fall that resulted in a prison term, and his hopes for redemption — put the RP on the national map, earning recognition from New York magazine’s “Approval Matrix.” Jeff’s followup — about love and sex behind bars — drew in nearly 100,000 readers, literally crashing the Web site. Jeff’s become a national sensation — expect much more from him in 2012.
 Contributing RP Michael Steele was already a national sensation before he joined the site — you know him as the former Lt. Governor of Maryland, as well as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Now a regular contributor to MSNBC, Michael shared with RP readers his vision of the new American Dream, and assessed both President Barack Obama and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Over the next few days, Michael will report from the Iowa caucuses; and in the year ahead, he will share his lively take on politics — and other subjects as well.
 Another familiar face at the site in 2011 was another former Lt. Governor of Maryland, contributing RP Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Kathleen elucidated her well-versed take on faith and politics, while slamming a then-ascendant Rick Perry for misusing faith, defended Sarah Palin(!), and shared her unique perspective as a member of the nation’s most iconic political family. Her most popular piece was on, of all things, home births. Expect the same kind of wide variety from Kathleen at The RP in the coming months.
 One of the RP’s most prolific contributing RPs was former Alabama Congressman Artur Davis. Artur wrote a fascinating, insightful piece about political authenticity, plunged into the centuries-old debate on race and politics, and explored the Democratic Party’s faith gap. Some of his most popular pieces were book reviews, taking on new works about Harry Truman and Bobby Kennedy. Artur’s not been shy about controversy, angering conservatives by attacking his home state’s “ugly” immigration law, and riling liberals by supporting its new Voter ID law. Don’t expect Artur to pull any punches in 2012.
 Contributing RP and former Missouri state House Speaker Rod Jetton is also one who is not a stranger to controversy. At the peak of his power, Rod was charged with ethics and criminal violations, and while he was cleared of everything, he stepped down to begin his second act. Rod’s 3-part series about his “Success, Scandal and Change” was one of the site’s most widely read, and he concluded the year with a touching 4-part series on his best friend, a fallen Marine. In the middle, he showed off a wry sense of humor in a video interview with his unlikely pal, contributing RP Jeff Smith (you have to see Rod’s imitation of Jeff).
 Jason Atkinson, an Oregon State Senator and contributing RP, underwent a different kind of political recovery — he had to withdraw from a promising gubernatorial campaign after he accidentally shot himself while hunting. He writes about the experience — with graphic charts — in “A Real Political Recovery,” but also created an Internet sensation with short films he directed on more successful outdoor adventures fishing for trout in “Big Mo” and “Half Pounder.” He also showed off his own wicked sense of humor, imitating Abe Lincoln and citing the wisdom of Homer…Simpson that is.
 Our newest contributing RP, former Virginia Congressional Democratic nominee Krystal Ball, has already generated considerable reader interest with her first piece about Why We Need More Women in Politics. Krystal should know; her first campaign for office was interrupted by a ridiculous media inquiry into pictures taken of her in college; PG-13 pictures that caused a mini-national-sensation only because of Krystal’s gender. As a regular contributor to MSNBC and here at The RP, Krystal will help us view politics in a much different way.
 Finally, I feel very fortunate — and so is the RP Nation — to have convinced my good friend, contributing RP, and former Kentucky Secretary of State, John Y. Brown, III to share his incisive social and political commentary, along with his uproarious sense of humor, at The RP. John Y. helped set the theme and tone of the site with his early piece, “What Do We Do Now?,” in which he offered a 20-question quiz to help readers determine if they were in need of political recovery. More recently, we’ve launched a regular feature, John Y.’s Musings from the Middle, in which he shares his wit and wisdom on topics varying from fruitcake to the death penalty to Lindsay Lohan. We guarantee a lot of laughs, as well as thoughtful advice, in the year ahead.
By RP Staff, on Sun Jan 15, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET Last week, we introduced a new tradition here at The Recovering Politician: The RP Debates, featuring our contributing recovering politicians — coming from all sides of the partisan and ideological spectrum — duke it out over a controversial issue. Last Monday’s battle addresses contributing RP (and former Kentucky Secretary of State) John Y. Brown, III’s provocative views on presidential leadership and the 2012 campaign. Click here to find links to all of the debate posts.
Tomorrow, the RPs will take on The RP’s controversial piece that he published in The Huffington Post, “The Moral Case for Legalizing Marijuana” (A Kentucky-centric version, “Gatewood Was Right” appeared over the weekend in the Lexington Herald-Leader.)
By Grant Smith, RP Staff, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
Warren Buffett challenges U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell to help reduce the Federal budget deficit. [CNBC]
Why the Federal government should stay out of the Google vs. Twitter search spat. [Forbes]
Are layoffs coming at Microsoft? [Fortune]
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET The illegal ivory trade gets a lot of attention but the biggest threat to many African animals is the sale of ‘bushmeat’. [bbc.co.uk]
Millions of dollarinof energy saving projects in Southern California go unused because agreements cannot be reached with Southern California Edison. [latimes.com]
The first bluefin tuna sold this year went for $736,000. This is sending the wrong message to fishermen who may illegally fish dwindling bluefin stocks. [npr.org]
Wave farms are an emerging source of green energy. [latimes.com]
By Robert Kahne, RP Staff, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET I haven’t done one of these in a long while, and it’s pretty close to the new year, so here are some songs from 2011 which I think are great and which were not plastered all over commercial radio. So, if they are new to you and you like them, you ought to check out the artist.
[Iron and Wine – Monkey’s Uptown] This song was very close to being my favorite album of the whole year. I have never really dug Iron and Wine, but this album opens up his sound more than any of his previous stuff. You should check it out.
[The Black Keys – Lonely Boy] Are The Black Keys on commercial radio? Part of me thinks they are. This band has been around forever, but their last album was a huge smash hit, so this might be a song you’ve already heard, which doesn’t really jibe with the theme of this post. I’m sorry. It’s a good song anyway, and you should listen to it. The video is great too, as a bonus.
[Quarter Chicken Dark from the Goat Rodeo Sessions] This album was engineered for me to love it. Chris Thile, who fronted one of my all time favorite bands (Nickel Creek), gets together with Yo Yo Ma and Stuart Duncan to record some epic folk music. Its a gem.
[Paul Simon – So Beautiful Or So What] Did you know Paul Simon came out with an album this year? If you didn’t, you are now. There is no excuse for not listening to this whole album at least twice. He’s one of the greatest song writers of all time. OF ALL TIME.
[Gary Clark Jr. – Bright Lights] I started listening to The Black Keys back in 2005, when their 3rd album Rubber Factory was released. I loved that album, but wondered 1) why had I never heard of these guys before? and 2) Why wasn’t this album more popular that it was? Then, a couple of albums later, Brothers was a huge hit. Gary Clark Jr. is a bit like that. He’s a phenomenal musician. His sound is great, and it seems like this guy would be getting more spins on commercial stations. I figure when he comes out with a full length album (his release this year was just an EP), it will be huge. Maybe. Hopefully.
If you think these songs are good and think I might know what I am talking about when it comes to music, I made a list of the top 20 albums of 2011. You can read it here.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET The coaching carousel is spinning and spinning and the biggest name on the market is former Titans head coach Jeff Fisher. The St. Louis Rams and the Miami Dolphins are reported to be the leading candidates. Many have been anticipating for days now which one Fisher will choose, however, Fisher insists neither team has offered him. [ESPN]
By Jeff Smith, on Fri Jan 13, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET  Given the tenuousness of Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, I imagine more than a few people in Washington are hoping former Sen. Bob Kerrey will run for the seat vacated by retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson. As both local andnational sources are reporting, Kerrey is seriously exploring the bid – and Republicans are taking his possible entrance just as seriously. Operatives of both parties seem to agree that he may be the only Democrat who could hold the seat. I hope that he makes the race. But I don’t think he will.
First, some politicos call Kerrey a serial floater. They refer to his frequent Hamlet routine, in which he contemplates but ultimately declines to run for various offices: in 2000 for president, in 2005 for New York City mayor, and in2008 for the last open U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska.
 Second, after a decade in the private sector, I doubt Kerrey is excited by the prospect of a year of retail campaigning. He was famously aloof in his 1992 presidential campaign, which reinforced the regrettable nickname “Cosmic Bob.” As a former aide to ex-presidential candidate Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., I traveled with Kerrey briefly in western Iowa in late 1999 as he helped campaign for Bradley before the caucuses. During a break between events, an advance man suggested that Kerrey shake hands in a small-town square; Kerrey suggested bowling instead. While I appreciated his quirky charisma, obvious intelligence, and willingness to speak hard truths, I found him miscast for the practice of politics. Accounts of his time in the Senate suggest a similar distaste for schmoozing.
Third, he could lose. Nebraska has reddened quite a bit since his last race in 1994. Back then, Nebraska had a Democratic governor and two Democratic U.S. senators; now, Nelson is the last elected Democratic statewide officeholder (and likely would’ve lost in ’12, which was why he bowed out). And surely, his having spent his last decade heading one of the nation’s most liberal universities — located in the lefty bastion of Greenwich Village — would take a little explaining to culturally conservative Nebraska voters. Attempting a comeback in such a risky race, after an unblemished career record of wins, may seem unappealing.
Read the rest of…
Jeff Smith: Democrats Can’t Count on Kerry
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Jan 12, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
You may remember several news stories coming out a while back regarding Foxconn, a manufacturer in China that makes primarily Apple products and Xbox 360s. They are back in the news as a group of workers recently threatened mass suicide. [The Atlantic]
Here is an update on the German hacker space program that would bring us uncensored Internet from space. [PopSci]
Twitter has been ordered by the US DoJ to hand over the account information of people thought to have connections to controversial whistle-blower Wikileaks. [Mashable]
A leaked internal memo has suggested that RIM, Nokia, and Apple provide governments backdoor access to their devices. [Slashdot]
Google, Facebook, and Twitter could be in talks to coordinate a blackout in opposition of SOPA. [TIME]
Finally, a super-cool story about a girl that snuck into a Russian military rocket facility. Check out the pictures she took, they really are amazing. [Gizmodo]
By Grant Smith, RP Staff, on Thu Jan 12, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
The Iranian President decides to take a little trip to Cuba. [Haaretz]
Mitt Romney moves ahead in the polls and starts to take on the welfare state. [CNBC]
A humorous analysis of Ron Paul’s New Hampshire Republican primary victory speech. [The New York Times]
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Jan 12, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET 
Do you remember last year’s State of the Union address?
I’m not asking about the speech itself. I’m referring to the fact that members of Congress abandoned their usual, and frankly juvenile, practice of sitting with their own precious cliques – Republicans on one side, Democrats on the other.
They crossed the aisle to demonstrate unified support for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) who had been shot just a few days previously. It was a wonderful gesture. But the next day, things were back to hyper-partisan business as usual.
As you know, bipartisan seating is reform #10 of our Make Congress Work! action plan. It’s the reform that gets a “Duh” response from anyone who hears about it. As in, “Of course, they should sit together. It makes perfect sense.” Unfortunately, the fact that an idea makes sense doesn’t make it any more likely for Congress to act on it.
|
The Recovering Politician Bookstore
|
We’ll start with Me because, well…uh…I paid for that microphone. I started the site by explaining Why March Madness Matters and ended the year arguing that Adam Sandler Saved the Jews. In between, I made The Liberal Case for Israel, I outlined Debt Ceilings and Credit Downgrade for Dummies, and shared my Top Five lists for about everything. (My favorite – Jew-ish Gentiles in Pop Culture). All and all, I can’t thank you enough for indulging my part-time, unpaid writing career.
Our most popular writer, hands down, has been contributing RP and former Missouri State Senator Jeff Smith. Jeff’s first piece — the story of his rise into national celebrity, his dramatic fall that resulted in a prison term, and his hopes for redemption — put the RP on the national map, earning recognition from New York magazine’s “Approval Matrix.” Jeff’s followup — about love and sex behind bars — drew in nearly 100,000 readers, literally crashing the Web site. Jeff’s become a national sensation — expect much more from him in 2012.
Contributing RP Michael Steele was already a national sensation before he joined the site — you know him as the former Lt. Governor of Maryland, as well as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Now a regular contributor to MSNBC, Michael shared with RP readers his vision of the new American Dream, and assessed both President Barack Obama and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Over the next few days, Michael will report from the Iowa caucuses; and in the year ahead, he will share his lively take on politics — and other subjects as well.
Another familiar face at the site in 2011 was another former Lt. Governor of Maryland, contributing RP Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Kathleen elucidated her well-versed take on faith and politics, while slamming a then-ascendant Rick Perry for misusing faith, defended Sarah Palin(!), and shared her unique perspective as a member of the nation’s most iconic political family. Her most popular piece was on, of all things, home births. Expect the same kind of wide variety from Kathleen at The RP in the coming months.
One of the RP’s most prolific contributing RPs was former Alabama Congressman Artur Davis. Artur wrote a fascinating, insightful piece about political authenticity, plunged into the centuries-old debate on race and politics, and explored the Democratic Party’s faith gap. Some of his most popular pieces were book reviews, taking on new works about Harry Truman and Bobby Kennedy. Artur’s not been shy about controversy, angering conservatives by attacking his home state’s “ugly” immigration law, and riling liberals by supporting its new Voter ID law. Don’t expect Artur to pull any punches in 2012.
Contributing RP and former Missouri state House Speaker Rod Jetton is also one who is not a stranger to controversy. At the peak of his power, Rod was charged with ethics and criminal violations, and while he was cleared of everything, he stepped down to begin his second act. Rod’s 3-part series about his “Success, Scandal and Change” was one of the site’s most widely read, and he concluded the year with a touching 4-part series on his best friend, a fallen Marine. In the middle, he showed off a wry sense of humor in a video interview with his unlikely pal, contributing RP Jeff Smith (you have to see Rod’s imitation of Jeff).
Jason Atkinson, an Oregon State Senator and contributing RP, underwent a different kind of political recovery — he had to withdraw from a promising gubernatorial campaign after he accidentally shot himself while hunting. He writes about the experience — with graphic charts — in “A Real Political Recovery,” but also created an Internet sensation with short films he directed on more successful outdoor adventures fishing for trout in “Big Mo” and “Half Pounder.” He also showed off his own wicked sense of humor, imitating Abe Lincoln and citing the wisdom of Homer…Simpson that is.
Our newest contributing RP, former Virginia Congressional Democratic nominee Krystal Ball, has already generated considerable reader interest with her first piece about Why We Need More Women in Politics. Krystal should know; her first campaign for office was interrupted by a ridiculous media inquiry into pictures taken of her in college; PG-13 pictures that caused a mini-national-sensation only because of Krystal’s gender. As a regular contributor to MSNBC and here at The RP, Krystal will help us view politics in a much different way.
Finally, I feel very fortunate — and so is the RP Nation — to have convinced my good friend, contributing RP, and former Kentucky Secretary of State, John Y. Brown, III to share his incisive social and political commentary, along with his uproarious sense of humor, at The RP. John Y. helped set the theme and tone of the site with his early piece, “What Do We Do Now?,” in which he offered a 20-question quiz to help readers determine if they were in need of political recovery. More recently, we’ve launched a regular feature, John Y.’s Musings from the Middle, in which he shares his wit and wisdom on topics varying from fruitcake to the death penalty to Lindsay Lohan. We guarantee a lot of laughs, as well as thoughtful advice, in the year ahead.
