No American family embodies mainstream Republicanism more than the Bushes, noted a New York Times article this year.
For three generations, Bush men have occupied towering positions in the party pantheon, and the party’s demographic and ideological shifts can be traced through the branches of the Bush family tree: from Prescott, the blue-blooded Eisenhower Republican, and George H.W. Bush, the transitional figure who tried and failed to emulate the approach of the New Right, to George W. Bush, who embodied the new breed of tax-cutting, evangelical conservatism. Indeed, the Bushes’ metamorphosis from genial centrism to deep-fried conservatism has both anticipated and reflected the party’s trajectory.
But now, Jeb Bush, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, seems to be bucking the trend. He is seeking to return the party to its ideological moorings — toward the centrism of his grandfather. Even before the GOP’s ignominious defeat in November, Jeb was offering tough love to his party, suggesting that Republicans stand up to Grover Norquist and craft a bipartisan compromise to reduce the deficit significantly. But will Republicans listen? There are many reasons to believe they won’t.
Prescott was a Manhattan investment banker who called himself a “moderate progressive.” In the 1952 primary between conservative presidential candidate Sen. Robert Taft and moderate Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Prescott chose Eisenhower — and became the president’s favorite golf partner. Prescott rode Eisenhower’s coattails into the Senate, where he focused on urban renewal, spearheading the 1954 Housing Act. An early proponent of the line-item veto, he received national recognition as an advocate of fiscal responsibility.
Prescott’s son George H.W. left for West Texas in 1948 when Texas was still a one-party state. But change was afoot in the South, and by the time H.W. ran for U.S. Senate in 1964, he encountered a flourishing Texas Republican Party that had recently elected its first U.S. senator by attracting hordes of conservative Democrats. But the new rank-and-file Republicans were nothing like the Connecticut Republicans he knew — or even like those in the Houston suburbs. Biographer Richard Ben Cramer imagined H.W.’s vexation at this new breed of Texas Republican:
“These … these nuts! They were coming out of the woodwork! They talked about blowing up the U.N., about armed revolt against the income tax. …The nuts hated him. They could smell Yale on him.”
Recognizing that his 1964 primary campaign would need to be more Goldwater than Rockefeller, he ignored the social problems Prescott had addressed. “Only unbridled free enterprise can cure unemployment,” H.W. asserted, contending that government bore no responsibility for alleviating poverty. Though he lost, he began the transition to Sunbelt conservatism that would make him (barely) acceptable to Ronald Reagan as a running mate. But he never fully evolved: He famously reneged on his “no new taxes” pledge. His son George W. would complete the transition.
George W.’s first major legislative accomplishment as president was the enactment of a massive $1.6 trillion tax cut. He rode roughshod over the green-eyeshade types to pass a massive tax cut. When it produced runaway deficits, he accepted Dick Cheney’s argument: “Reagan taught us that deficits don’t matter.”
In adopting Sun Belt conservatism — sometimes clumsily — George H.W. and George W. anticipated the Republican Party’s ideological shift. Hence, in evaluating Jeb’s prescriptions for fiscal responsibility, today’s Republicans should recall the Bushes’ past political palm reading.
Read the rest of… Jeff Smith: Can Jeb Bush sway the GOP on taxes, debt?
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue Dec 11, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
Latkes? Schmatkes!
This time of year makes many of us nostalgic for those traditions of our childhood, those Norman Rockwell-esque memories of stringing popcorn, gathering fresh pine boughs, and sharing our plum pudding with the Himmels. (Oh, whoops, that wasn’t my childhood, that was Jo March’s . . . )
Well, anyway, most of the time I’m not exactly the domestic type (I cook adequately, but Martha Stewart’s job is safe), but occasionally I get this uncontrollable urge to create a memorable Hanukkah for my family. Which is pretty silly, when you think of it, since it’s a minor holiday that only gets any attention because it’s close to Christmas, and the traditions associated with it are more appropriate to Las Vegas (gambling and eating fried food). But I still want my boys to have fond memories, so I hang up the dreidl garlands and put out the menorah tea towels and star-of-David potholders, and when I’m really ambitious, I make a batch of latkes. (Which I imagine is akin to my Christian friends deciding to make a Buche de Noel or homemade egg nog, something like that?)
Latkes, for you goyim, are potato pancakes – so just imagine your entire kitchen covered with oil splatters, flour, and bits of burnt hash browns, and you’ll get the general idea. You can find countless articles about how adequate draining or squeezing prevents splatters, tips on utilizing the potato starch left from the draining liquid, and recipes that require using a lab-quality timer, but it still always makes a mess, and I end up resolving never to do it again. But amidst the mess and debris, occasionally one or two come out halfway decently, and there is something almost religious about biting into a crispy patty of fried potato – plus you’ve got to love a holiday where you’re supposed to eat fried food!
Unfortunately, that bliss is short-lived, and the mess takes forever to clean up. (And the worst part is, my kids don’t even like latkes!) But at least this year I captured it on film, which may help remind me next year that the latkes are always crispier in someone else’s kitchen . . . .
PS “Latkes, Shmatkes” is the title track of my album of comedy songs for Hanukkah – available at www.laurenmayer.com, on amazon.com, iTunes, CDBaby, and Picklehead Music.
Earlier this year I wrote one of my first pieces for the Huffington Post entitled “Flyover Country? Not this Kansas City.” The column focused on many of the incredible things happening on Silicon Prairie. Since then Kansas City has continued to impress with its unbelievable momentum in the entrepreneur, startup and innovation space. Kansas City is on a roll. It’s a city on move.
Now as many people might already know Kansas City has the best barbecue in the world. Not only is it the best, but recently one of KC’s outstanding BBQ restaurants, Oklahoma Joe’s, was named The Manliest Restaurant in America by Men’s Health. Try the Z-Man and fries, you won’t be disappointed. KC is the barbecue capital of the world, but now through The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Big 5 Initiative, KC is building to become “America’s Most Entrepreneurial City.” A lofty goal with serious competition on both coasts, but with Kansas City’s rich history of entrepreneurship and innovation anything is possible.
Recently, many impressive developments are helping to move the ball past the goal line with entrepreneurs in Kansas City. Much of this is due to a renaissance in the spirit of collaboration. Groups such asKCSourceLink, UMKC SBTDC and the Kauffman Foundation are providing unprecedented access, opportunities and resources for entrepreneurs. This can be no more apparent than at Kauffman Labsthrough the 1 Million Cups (1MC) program. Every Wednesday morning local startups present their companies to a diverse room of hundreds of mentors, advisers, investors and entrepreneurs over coffee. In addition, the Kauffman Foundation recently powered Global Entrepreneurship Week in 129 countries, which included a full week of over 40 activities for entrepreneurs of all ages and stages of business in Kansas City.
In Kansas City, local government is also developing innovative public-private sector partnerships and real collaboration with the entrepreneurial community. The Mayor of Kansas City, Mo., Sly James recently announced Launch KC. Launch KC is an initiative designed to attract and develop entrepreneurs and IT professionals in the thriving information technology community around the downtown area of Kansas City, MO. A few key parts of the Launch KC initiative are reducing the costs of launching tech companies in KC, building a downtown wireless district, providing incentives on business equipment to tech startups, connecting entrepreneurs to corporate resources and establishing a major technology lab in Kansas City’s Union Station.
Read the rest of… Jason Grill: Kansas City is Building America’s Most Entrepreneurial City
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Dec 11, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Bitter Sweet Symphony
I am a sucker for bitter sweet as a prefix for anything.
I admit that.
I think that much of life, even the most beautiful , brilliant, gratifyjng and elegant parts are still —at best — imbued with a bitter sweet quality. And that isn’t a “sad” quality.
Just a human one.
So being the cutting edge music aficionado that I am, I couldn’t resist the title of this song I stumbled across this morning: And absolutely love this song and sound and video.
Note; I use “cutting edge ” loosely.
Meaning plus or minus 15 years. Apparently this song was released in 1997 and received notable acclaim.
But, hey, that’s more cutting edge than, like, 16 years later.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Dec 11, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET
#TeamJYB3:
Day 2 of my new diet to loose 15 pounds (or at least).
Woke up.
First thing I thought of was “I’m on a diet.”
Went back to sleep.
Woke up a second time.
Planned to workout this morning for 4-5 minutes and then have Bran cereal.
Put off workout. Amazed self getting small chores done that I have been putting off for several weeks (trying to avoid working out this morning.
Ran out of time to workout but had most productive morning in weeks.
Seeing this diet program as having great unintended consequences for keeping up to date on routine tasks.
At one point, considered vacuuming to avoid working out this morning. (PS I don’t even know where we keep our vacuum stored)
Ran out of time for Bran cereal too.
Darn!
Not really.
I tell myself I will work out later today—and for 5-6 minutes. To teach myself a lesson to not skip working out.
And I won’t eat a Apple Fritter for breakfast (at least not a whole one).
Weighed myself. I’ve actually lost 3/10th of a pound (at 192.0 down from 192.3)
At this rate, I am going to lose 2.1 lbs per week.
I become concerned because over the course of a year, if this rate stays steady, I will weigh only 83 lbs. If I continue at this rate for a year and a half, I will weigh 28 lbs.
And will need an entire new wardrobe and can’t afford one now.
Decide to go forward with diet anyway.
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#TeamRP:
A travel day.
Ugh.
Since there is only one nonstop to New York and one nonstop back to Lexington, I have to get up at 5 AM and get home after Midnight to fit in a day trip to the Big Apple for business.
Aside for all of the modern inconveniences of plane travel — rushing to the airport, taking your shoes off, getting irradiated, etc. — it is hardest on my fitness and nutrition routine.
Exercise is out — no way am I getting up 30 minutes earlier when I already have to lose an extra hour of sleep. And it is almost impossible to find healthy things to eat as I am rushing to and around NYC. Don’t even mention the client lunches and dinners where I have to suffer through a salad while my younger colleagues partake of the steak and fries.
At least I will be home tomorrow — I rarely have business trips that last more than two days. I can only imagine what that would do to my fitness challenge participation.
Any tips out there among the RP Nation frequent travelers on how to stay in shape on the fly?
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Dec 10, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Analogy fail.
As helpful as analogies are, they can’t be too personal or too obscure. And keep them light. For example, here’s analogy fail from several months ago I used with a couple of close friends trying to be funny.
“You know that feeling you get when you walk into your old apartment for the first time in six weeks after going to rehab and you have to remove three month old milk cartons with soured milk and clear out old pizza boxes with dried hardened pieces of rancid pizza crust that could be used as a prison shiv?”
Well, as it turned out, the answer was no. No one could relate. So what were some lessons I learned?
First rule: Too personal. Don’t assume just because you had a personal experience 27 years ago, everyone else did too and can relate to the image or feeling you are trying to recreate.
Second rule: Don’t use obscure references like “prison shiv” even if you’ve never been to prison, never plan to go, and have no plans to ever use a prison shiv and only know about them from one of your favorite movies, Shawshank Redemption.
Third rule. Know your audience. Be careful giving out dangerous ideas. The only people who would appreciate the pizza crust prison shiv reference are people who may one day be in a position to actually make and use one in prison. And then you’ll feel really stupid.
Below, The RP and JYB3 share their personal fitness goals as part of this elite competition. And later this week, we will hear from their trainer — our web site’s own fitness expert, Josh Bowen.
Click here to watch a video with the official rules of the challenge. (SPOILER ALERT: Everyone’s a loser!)
And stay tuned for many exciting developments in the challenge — where you can join the combatants, and when you can win valuable prizes.
We encourage you to pick sides: We fully expect #TeamRP and #TeamJYB3 to trend on Twitter, blow up Facebook, and do whatever to Pinterest that Pinterest does.
Anyway, here are the big losers themselves:
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JYB3 (#TeamJYB3)
JYB3 BEFORE
I am announcing it to friends and family and anyone else who will listen.
I’m serious this time.
It’s not a New Year’s resolution. Just a December 8th start date. I’m not sure when the end date is. But it won’t be until 2013. And here’s what I’m going to do.
LOSE 15 POUNDS.
(or at least 10 pounds)
Jonathan Miller has challenged me and I told him, in no uncertain words, “I like the idea conceptually, but the working out part concerned me and make me reluctant at first. But I’m in. I’m all in. I mean I’m in. I’ll do it. I guess.”
So “It’s on!” And today is the day. Or maybe it’s tomorrow. We weren’t really clear on that. But what is clear is that I am committed to losing 15 pounds. (Or at least 10).
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I’ve been asked for a “Before” picture. To show beside my “after” picture once I’m through. That assumes two things: 1) I’ll actually finish this commitment and 2) that the “after” picture will actually be distinguishable for the “before” picture.
What I would like to do instead of a “before and after picture” is to reserve the option of
having two “after” pictures, assuming things go well. And a written “before” depiction for comparison purposes. (In addition to the “after” pictures, both of them, if it goes well), I will include a brief narrative description as well.
So, here, goes.
Seth Rogen shirtless
John Y Brown III (Before Description). Imagine Seth Rogan on a beach somewhere without a shirt and nearly knee length baggy shorts. But picture him about two inches shorter and with a slight Southern accent. Eating a Krispy Kreme donut. (I’d say imagine him 7 pounds lighter than he is in the movies….but because the camera adds about 10 pounds, instead imagine him about 3 pounds heavier than he is in real life and not on camera. Or if that’s too difficult because you are struggling to imagine Seth Rogen off camera and 10 pounds lighter, just go ahead and imagine him like in his movies buy 7 pounds lighter. (Just slightly less accurate that way because the added 10 pounds caused by the camera is inexact. But it’s close enough. If you’ve followed this description closely, you have a pretty good idea now of what my “before” picture looks like.
Or, for a simpler image. Just imagine Seth Rogan (movie not real life) shirtless and eating a Krispy Kreme donut. Minus 7.2 pounds (I’m factoring in the donut). And don’t imagine a Speedo. That’s not fair to anyone.
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THE RP (#TeamRP)
The RP BEFORE
About a decade ago, I started training with the extraordinary Josh Bowen. He pushed, bullied and harangued me into shape. By the time we were done, I weighed 175 lbs and was — with no exaggeration — in the best shape of my life.
After a few years, I thought that I had learned all I could from my guru, my fitness sherpa. I continued hitting the gym, this time by myself, using all the advice Josh had given me. A few years later, I was roughly in the same shape.
Then I got greedy, and exercised too hard and did something (used the elliptical in wrong form? put too much weight on the leg press?) that led to a bulging disk in my lower back. My exercise routine shut down as I went to all sorts of places for treatment — doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors, acupuncture, drum circles, etc.
The RP BEFORE BEFORE. Posing with Josh in 2005
Finally, I listened to my wife, found a Yoga instructor, whose stretching and strength routine helped ease the pain. Thank you to the marvelous David and Erin Smith of the Om Place in Winchester!
But without exercising regularly, I gained a bunch of weight. Then I lost it, worked out too hard, hurt myself and gained a bunch of weight again. I simply have never been able to figure out the right balance of working out hard enough to lose weight, but not too hard to hurt myself.
In the meantime, I aged. I developed both borderline high blood pressure and the same stomach acid problem that plagued my dad. I’m on acid blockers, but for both of my conditions, my doctor was insistent: I have to lose at least 10 pounds.
I’m at 190 now. I need to be at maximum 180. I’d love to get down to 175 — where I felt best — but losing those final 5 pounds by myself always led to other physical problems.
So, I’m back to the master for help.
I eat pretty well, but could always use some nutrition tips. But really, I am looking to Josh for a weight-losing exercise program that will not exacerbate my disk problem.
And I look forward to sharing with the RP Nation.
Read the rest of… The RP vs. JYB3 — An EPIC Fitness Challenge
Yesterday the President warned Congressional Republicans not to mess with him and the country when it comes to raising the debt ceiling.
Oh debt ceiling. If I had to describe you in one word, it would be seducer. That’s right…seducer, you naughty debt ceiling, you. Members of Congress got together and gorged themselves at the table of deficit spending, ordering up Porterhouse sized tax cuts for their rich friends and a heaping helping of extended unemployment benefits for their out of work neighbors.
Krystal Ball
Now the bill comes due and when it’s time to whip out the national credit card, you whisper your sweet nothings into the Tea Party’s ear and the GOP threatens to dine and dash as a matter of “principle.” After all, who wants to put $16 trillion on the national credit card? Who is pro-debt? No one. GOP extremists get to pretend they are the adults in the room, railing about spending that has already happened and that they agreed to. And the best part, you naughty naughty debt ceiling, you offer them the chance to get some more goodies in the form of more tax cuts for their rich benefactors or the righteous thrill of cutting Medicaid assistance from those Obama-loving takers.
For nearly a hundred years now, you were this boring, nondescript wallflower, never drawing attention to yourself. When Congress, through spending and tax cuts, came up against your limits, you were raised without a word…they barely gave you a second glance. Sure it was a waste of time to have to deal with you but waste of time is what Congress does! You’ve been raised 74 times since the 60’s, 18 times under Reagan alone!
You saw wars, peace, a man on the moon, and no matter how you batted your fiscal eyelashes, nobody cared. Invisible. Now, all of the sudden, the Tea Partiers can’t keep their hands off you.
Like a case of fiscal syphilis you now put the entire body in peril. Yes, I know this disease is no fault of your own. Congressional Republicans have decided that consequences be damned: threatening the country with national default by refusing to lift you (after having already voted to cut taxes and spend until you absolutely must be raised) is a useful tool for getting their way. I know you love all the attention, but seriously, debt ceiling, this isn’t a harmless flirtation.
I know you think that no sane person or party would actually cause a national default for the sake of a temper tantrum and the chance for a few extra fiscal goodies, the chance to cop a fiscal feel, if you will. But alas, we have looked into their eyes, and they actually seem crazy enough to do it.
And so dear debt ceiling, it’s time to say goodbye. You can’t seduce our Congress any more with your promises of phony courage and self-righteous hostage taking…the gig’s up, dear, but I do know this great looking bunch in China that we’d love for you to meet.
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Dec 7, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Advice texted to my son today after we had lunch and he asked an important question I didn’t answer adequately at the time.
Me: “You asked me if there were many dishonest people in government and business. The answer, as I said earlier, is no. There are very few and they are radioactive and never last long.
But there are plenty of people everywhere who can sometimes be selfish or short-sighted or petty. And that is disappointing. You can’t change them and just learn to maneuver around them. And then you must be careful not to get sucked in to their game of playing things small.
Playing small is not a game worth getting good at if you are going to ask a lot of yourself in life–whatever you end of doing in your work.
Prescott’s son George H.W. left for West Texas in 1948 when Texas was still a one-party state. But change was afoot in the South, and by the time H.W. ran for U.S. Senate in 1964, he encountered a flourishing Texas Republican Party that had recently elected its first U.S. senator by attracting hordes of conservative Democrats. But the new rank-and-file Republicans were nothing like the Connecticut Republicans he knew — or even like those in the Houston suburbs. Biographer Richard Ben Cramer imagined H.W.’s vexation at this new breed of Texas Republican:
