By Jonathan Miller, on Mon May 2, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
Today, we introduce our newest contributing recovering politician, Andrew Romanoff, through the magic of video Skype.
Andrew served as Speaker of the House for the Colorado state House of Representatives until he was term-limited in 2010. That year, he bucked the state and national Democratic establishment by challenging his party’s U.S. Senator, Michael Bennet, who had been appointed to that office by the Democratic governor and supported by President Obama. Despite this challenge — and with an assist from President Clinton who endorsed him — Andrew almost pulled the upset of the election cycle.
Now a Senior Advisor for International Development Enterprises, Andrew shares with The RP his thoughts about his race, term limits, and global conflict and development:
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Apr 29, 2011 at 12:30 PM ET
Those readers familiar with national politics might remember “Walkin’ Lawton” Chiles, the Florida legend who walked from the western most point of the Florida panhandle all the way to Key West during his 1970 bid for the U.S. Senate. The walk became his signature action, so he incorporated it through his many future statewide campaigns.
In 2010, our own contributing RP Loranne Ausley took the gimmick another “step,” and ventured on a bike trek from Tallahasse to West Palm Beach to convince her opponent to finally engage in a civil debate. (Read about what Loranne is up to in her inaugural post.) Here is a report of her efforts:
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
Today’s guest for RPTV’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame is the noted author, television commentator and GOP policy guru, Jim Pinkerton. Going back to the George H.W. Bush Administration, Pinkerton has been one of the leading Republican policy minds in Washington. Unlike most of cable TV’s talking heads, Pinkerton does not stick to the party script, and has consistently pushed his party to the center on social issues, while remaining a fierce advocate for fiscal conservatism and the free markets.
During his Fifteen Minutes of Fame, Pinkerton discusses the debt, his prescription to battle income inequality, and despite needling from the RP, does NOT endorse Donald Trump in 2012. Watch here:
As we begin to celebrate a series of 150th anniversaries of the Civil War and its aftermath, we flash back just four years to a Presidents’ Day commemoration on the floor of the Oregon State Senate.
There, our very own Contributing RP Jason Atkinson does his best — and funniest — Abe Lincoln imitation, in a debate with a scary looking “George Washington.”
If you can suffer through the poor video quality, it is worth the punch line to Jason’s masterful oration. Enjoy:
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Apr 19, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
By popular demand, today’s guest on RPTV’s Fifteen Minutes of Fame is contributing RP and former Missouri State Senator Jeff Smith. Jeff’s inaugural post for The Recovering Politician has electrified the blogosphere; already more than 10,000 people have read Jeff’s stunningly candid retelling of his post-political experiences in a federal prison.
In this morning’s interview, Jeff addresses many of the questions that our readers have posed since his article’s posting on April 4. If you are new to this site, be sure to read the following articles BEFORE you watch the interview:
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Apr 15, 2011 at 2:15 PM ET
In early 1995, one of my best friends, David Hale (now U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky) called me to see if I would help the campaign for Secretary of State of his law school classmate, John Y. Brown, III. I was certainly aware of Brown’s dad, the former chicken magnate and Governor, but my parents had opposed Brown Jr.’s last campaign, opting instead to support some guy named Steve Beshear.
Still, I was bored working as an associate for a big Washington law firm; David made a compelling case; and John, upon meeting, seemed like a nice, well-meaning, intelligent guy.
Somehow, as the only one in the room with a modicum of campaign experience, I was enlisted, pro bono, as the campaign’s media consultant. I wrote and directed a series of ads that, while extraordinarily amateurish, apparently didn’t hurt Brown too bad — he won both the primary and general elections by wide margins.
Most importantly, watch for the international television debut of my future running mate, John Y. Brown, IV, whose newfound mobility skills inspired the ad, and whose telegenic appearance cannot be underestimated for its vote-accruing effect:
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Apr 12, 2011 at 12:30 PM ET
This past weekend, the RP showed up as a guest on “Kentucky Newsmakers,” the long running talk show hosted by living legend Bill Bryant. The RP waxed nostalgically about his career in politics and shared his vision for The Recovering Politician.
Inadvertently, he also made some news when Bryant asked him about his political future: The RP announced his bid for Governor in 2037, with running mate, John Y. Brown, IV, the 17-year-old son of contributing RP John Y. Brown, III. Watch the interview below (The RP’s stunning announcement comes about 12 minutes in):
While Bryant accurately noted in the interview that 2037 is not an election year, the RP neglected to respond that his ticket’s top policy goal is to amend the state constituion to hold a gubernatorial election in 2037.
Plank 3, devised by Lt. Governor candidate Brown, is to implement voluntary furloughs, up to 30 days, for high school students: Brown explained, “In these tough economic times, it is important for all of us to share some of the sacrifice.”
Stay tuned to RPTV for all of the latest news on the 2037 campaign…
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Apr 12, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
Of course, politicians are not the only victims of sensationalist journalism — entertainment celebrities have it far, far worse.
Take Ashley Judd’s new book. (Seriously: Take it — there’s a link to buy below.)
If you’d believe the breathless coverage, the memoir is just another celebrity tell-all, a lead-in to a sobbing appearance on Oprah’s coach.
In fact, All That is Bitter and Sweet is an important book: a sobering diary of Judd’s humanitarian work in some of the very poorest areas of the globe. It is far moreThree Cups of Teathan anything resembling Mommy Dearest.
In this exclusive RPTV podcast interview, Judd discusses her journeys, advises all of us on how to get involved in supporting her critical causes, and, of course, discusses Kentucky basketball.
You can download the RPTV podcast by clicking here, or on Ashley’s picture above.
I encourage you to buy Ashley’s book, and check out the important charitable organizations that she discusses in the interview. Links to all can be found below:
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Apr 8, 2011 at 12:30 PM ET
Four days before the 1988 presidential general election, featuring a matchup between then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis, I was asked to appear on the cable television program that helped usher in the age of political broadcast incivility: CNN’s Crossfire. At the ripe age of 21, I was serving as Executive Director of College Democrats of America, and I was poised to debate my counterpart at College Republicans, as well as the ultra-formidable Pat Buchanan.
I really didn’t know the Duke’s policy positions that intimately — I had worked for Al Gore in the primaries — so I pulled an all-nighter reading white papers. In addition to being exhausted, I was sick to my stomach: extremely nervous because I WAS GOING ON FRICKIN’ NATIONAL TV TO DEBATE PAT BUCHANAN!!!
So, green in more ways that one, equipped with an all-purpose Watergate one-liner to parry Pat, and sporting my regrettable 80’s era hairdo (Does Justin Bieber owe me a commission?), I had my 10 minutes in the bright lights. Enjoy:
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Apr 6, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
For those of you from the hinterlands (read: somewhere other than Kentucky), you are probably not familiar with Kentucky Educational Television (KET), one of the crown jewels of the nation’s public broadcasting system. If ever you doubt the benefits of federal funding in this area, check out the KET web site to discover the incredible range of educational programming that the network makes available in every corner of the state.
KET anchor Bill Goodman, a widely respected journalist, interviewed the RP last week upon the launch of The Recovering Politician.
You can watch the 28-minute video by clicking here, or on the picture below:
