Please sign the petition below to remove the statue of Jefferson Davis currently in Kentucky’s Capitol Rotunda, and replace it with a tribute to Muhammad Ali, “the Louisville Lip” and “the Greatest of All Time.”
I just heard from the Ali family: It is the Champ’s belief that Islam prohibits three-dimensional representations of living Muslims. Accordingly, I have adjusted the petition to call for a two-dimensional representation of Ali (a portrait, picture or mural) in lieu of a statue.
UPDATE (Tuesday, December 2, 2014)
In this interview with WHAS-TV’s Joe Arnold, Governor Steve Beshear endorses the idea of honoring Muhammad Ali in the State Capitol (although he disagrees with removing Davis). Arnold explores the idea further on his weekly show, “The Powers that Be.”
Click here to check out WDRB-TV’s Lawrence Smith’s coverage of the story.
And here’s my op-ed in Ali’s hometown paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal.
UPDATE (Saturday, June 4, 2016)
In the wake of the 2015 Charlestown tragedy, in which a Confederate flag-waving murderer united the nation against racism, all of the most powerful Kentucky policymakers — U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Governor Matt Bevin, Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker Greg Stumbo — called for the removal of the Davis statue from the Rotunda. Today, as we commemorate last night’s passing of Muhammad Ali, there is no better moment to replace the symbol of Kentucky’s worst era with a tribute to The Greatest of All Time.
UPDATE (Wednesday, June 8, 2016):
Great piece by Lawrence Smith of WDRB-TV in Louisville on the petition drive to replace Jefferson Davis’ statue in the Capitol Rotunda with a tribute to Muhammad Ali.
UPDATE (Thursday, June 9, 2016):
Excellent piece on the petition drive by Jack Brammer that was featured on the front page of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Highlight of the article:
Miller said he has received a few “angry comments” on his call to honor Ali.
“One of them encouraged me to kill myself,” he said. “You can quote me that I have decided not to take their advice.”
UPDATE (Friday, June 10, 2016)
The petition drives continues to show the Big Mo(hammed): check out these stories from WKYU-FM public radio in Bowling Green and WKYT-TV, Channel 27 in Lexington:
UPDATE (Saturday, June 11, 2016):
Still not convinced? Check out this excerpt from today’s New York Times:
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Aug 14, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
I’m excited to pass on word of an important new book written by my friend and mentor, former Republican Oklahoma Congressman Mickey Edwards.
As he writes compellingly, American politics has become a system “of the parties, by the parties, and for the parties. Instead of a government of Americans working together to solve national problems, we have two rival governments — two private clubs — more interested in their agendas than America’s well-being.”
In his new book, The Parties Versus The People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans, Edwards proposes serious, fundamental, specific reforms to turn our political system upside down and put power back in the hands of the American people.
I encourage you to purchase it. And if you are in the DC area, Mickey will be the featured guest author at Politics & Prose on, Thursday, August 16 at 7:00 p.m, 5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, (202) 364-1919
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Aug 14, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
New World Order. As in new “fast food order”–in the post-Chick-Fil-A politicization of poultry world we now live in.
And everything has changed.
I was on a conference call today with two guys who live in a liberal northeastern state and I was asked to describe Kentucky’s politics. I blurted out, “We are a Chik-Fil-A state” and no further explanation was needed.
But tonight things took a personal turn.
I was hungry and tired and driving in my hometown Louisville, KY. I wanted to go to Chik-Fil-A. But I didn’t. At some deep level I felt like “my kind” wasn’t welcome there. You know the kind I’m talking about: democratic heterosexuals who don’t spend a lot of time thinking about gay sex.
So I did what any good populist loving, bring-me-your-poor-and-huddled-masses democrat would do. I went to Taco Bell instead. Which allowed me the extra political satisfaction of slyly making a subtle political statement opposing immigration too. I was self-satisfied from a political standpoint but as I ate my very masculine Crunchwrap Supreme from the Taco Bell parking lot I kept looking at the Chick-Fil-A sign from across the street. And getting angrier—and hungrier.
I imagined the chicken salad sandwich on toasted bread with cole slaw on the side and for a split second caught myself re-considering my views on civil unions. I was ashamed. And wanted to send Chick-Fil-A a message for putting me in this awful predicament.
I threw down my Crunchwrap Supreme and drove across the street and into the belly of the beast. As I pulled in I felt like I had just pulled into the Creationism Museum circa 1950 and hoped no one was on to me—a political subversive on the premises trying to score a chicken salad sandwich without being outed. So far, so good.
My plan was to order at the drive thru and then pause and ask if they were running any “Heterosexual discounts” today and then casually mention I just celebrated 21 years of marriage to my heterosexual wife to make them think I was one of them.
But as I pulled up to the drive thru a kind female voice asked how she could she “serve” me—and was sincere and patient and kind. I was embarrassed. I couldn’t go through with my silly little prank. But I couldn’t just eat at Chik-Fil-A and not do something to show I wasn’t selling out my political convictions for a measly chicken sandwich. So I ordered “Waffle Potato Fries”—the gayest thing on the menu. No “Freedom fries” here. More like “Fairy fries” if you ask me. And as I enjoyed the delicious fries in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot I thought to myself, “These are Deee-VINE!!” An inside dig with myself as I sneered at the nice and helpful waitress inside.
And then I drove away—disappointed at my juvenile behavior but encouraged that Chick-Fil-A types and my type aren’t that far apart after all. We really never are, you know.
I mean….those fries may not be the gay marrying kind…but by the time Chick-Fil-A is finished with them, there’s nothing remotely heterosexual about them.
And then I got it. I think it Chick-Fil-A’s way of winking to the rest of us and saying,
“We may be traditionalist for the most part. But we still know how to get our gay on too!”
And that made me feel better about returning soon to Chick-Fil-A.
And made me smile to myself and think, “Maybe we really can all get along”
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Tue Aug 14, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
The Politics of Pigskin
The big news of the week came when the Dolphins cut WR Chad Johnson (formerly Chard Ochicinco) after he was arrested on domestic battery charges stemming from a confrontation with his new wife. LB Karlos Dansby has come out in strong opposition to the move. [ESPN]
There is a not insignificant amount of people who have been negative regarding the performance of the replacement refs since the normal crews have been locked out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a deal get done very soon. [Football Nation]
According to a source, Plaxico Burress has been worked out by the Patriots. [ESPN]
Contributing RP, former Missouri State Representative Jason Grill, and Republican Annie Presley of the Bryan Cave Law Firm take on the Missouri U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill and GOP challenger Todd Akin:
I LOVE the Ryan pick. We need less government involvement is everything we do, and we MUST address the nation’s debt. Perfect Man for the position.
L.B.
I can’t stand Paul Ryan either. I just wish they would quit calling him a Tea Partier. He is nothing more than a moderate neocon. As in moderately tolerable. Here’s the radical right wing take.
K.M.
I too was pleased with the Ryan selection.. Maybe we can have meaningful dialoggue now on the truly critical issues instead of this endless nonsense on Bain Capital, tax returns, welfare reform, GPAs, etc., etc
S.K.
The difference in this election could not be more clear, the republicans want to take one half of the poor mans bologna sandwich to pay for another steak for the top 2%.. Thanks for the e-mail very good reading.
E.L
In the last Governor’s election I voted for Steve Beshear, and I am a conservative. I am a registered Democrat, but I want the best person in the office…….NOT the party line. This country has to elect the Romney-Ryan ticket this fall or we get the Cloward- Piven Strategy = BHO Socialist Republic.
F.B.
Governor Romney’s pick of Congressman Paul Ryan is a bold and thoughtful decision.
I do believe that Ryan comes with baggage because he has a record of actually voting and taking a stand, which is not done that often in Washington D.C. What Romney did in his choice is tell the country that he is candidate to be President not because he picked Ryan to be the Republican Vice President candidate. Ryan will act as the COO in a Romney Presidency and Ryan has the experience for that role. One of the reasons that McCain lost was because some people were not comfortable that Governor Palin should or could be President. Senator Obama (which is was when he made his decision on VP), needed someone more “experienced and presidential” to fill out his ticket too. Romney’s pick is someone who knows how to operate within the beltway and can be an adviser to him. Romney is telling the public and insiders in both parties (politely and firmly) that he is the only one who needs the experience to be the President (CEO) of the United States. So for a guy who is being accused of not taking a position, I think we all just saw what kind of President he can and will be.
By Ethan Berkowtz, on Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 3:30 PM ET
Romney-Ryan Republicans. It’s good alliteration, but not a game changer. First, the electorate votes the top of the ticket, and Ryan isn’t energizing enough to get a major deviation from that rule. Second, Romney now has to embrace the Ryan budget or continue to suffer the reputation as an equivocator. Third, given Ryan is universally considered a “nice guy”, he can’t suddenly become a pit bull without doing injury to his credibility. Plus, he’s young enough to nurture future ambitions and a scorched earth approach hurts him personally in the long run.
It says a lot that Romney is still trying to juice up his base rather than reach to the middle. It also spells that his campaign is in trouble that they’re willing to change the narrative they’ve been using. But, and that’s the biggest but in this cycle, there’s all that Citizen United money out there which could just overwhelm conventional wisdom, political reality and electoral logic.
By Bradford Queen, Managing Editor, on Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Media
Paul Ryan edition:
Following the announcement of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s choice for the VP slot on Saturday morning, the campaign says it chose what would generally be considered an odd time to break the news because “we’re in a 24-7 news cycle.” [WSJ] [NYTimes] [The Washington Post]
TVNewser has a good recap of how the networks covered the Norfolk, Va. campaign event. [TVNewser] But, the Twitters were buzzing long before the Saturday morning event. [Mashable]
CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ and Bob Schieffer scored the first joint interview with Romney and Ryan. [CBS]
The Fox News/News Corp. patriarch Rupert Murdoch endorsed the Ryan pick on Twitter. [@rupertmurdoch]
In other news, CNN’s Sunday line-up looked different over the weekend after the cable network suspended Fareed Zakaria following the journalist’s admission to plagiarism last week. Zakaria recent column for TIME – which has also suspended him – that included portions that appeared to mirror a piece in April’s issue of The New Yorker. [NYTimes]
I think it is a great pick. Republicans need to remind voters about all the economic, deficit and budget promises Team Obama made during the 2008 campaign and the 2009/10 recovery efforts.
These promises and efforts have fallen short. To Republicans and many other Americans, Obama promised a lot that he didn’t deliver on, and his recovery efforts broke many of the promises he made about the budget and deficits.
Republicans want to keep the campaign on the economy, deficits and our budget problems. Obama needs to keep it on Mitt Romney and how out of touch he is.
Ryan is a conservative, but his ability to lay out the numbers in a very factual way will cause the Democrats problems.
He will perfectly contrast with Joe Biden. I love Joe; he seems like a great guy who means well, but how did he ever become a senator and VP?
Let’s face it: This guy hasn’t seen the ball since kickoff.
I bet the Obama team is already shaking about the VP debate. Hopefully they can keep it on foreign policy and not the budget or economy.
Sure he is conservative, but he backs up exactly what Republicans want this campaign to be about- A president who understands the economy and jobs, along with a VP who knows the budget and government programs.
I’m sure the Democrats will want to make the campaign about their conservative views and how that will cut government programs and hurt people, but even that gets to the debate Republicans want.
I don’t know if they can win that debate, but it is worth having and it will be fun to watch.
By Robert Kahne, RP Staff, on Mon Aug 13, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
I have to object pretty strongly to Jonathan’s first reason for liking the Paul Ryan pick–I believe the characterization of Paul Ryan as a policy wonk is an affront to policy wonks of all stripes.
As Mr. Allen very astutely characterized, Ryan is an ideologue–which is perfectly fine! He is a politician, that is the best thing for an ideologue to be! However, it frustrates me to no end when people say that Paul Ryan is driven by policy. He is clearly not.
Like most other people, he is driven by a set of core beliefs in which he has faith. They were also illuminated by Mr. Allen: tax cuts always stimulate, and government spending is fundamentally bad.
My biggest problem with Mr. Ryan is that he tries to use policy research and econometrics (my fields of study) to justify his beliefs. Here is an example of what frustrates me: when I was getting my Masters degree in public policy, we had a class which was essentially about how to be a non-partisan research staffer for a legislative branch. One of the lessons we had was about how to deal with policy makers who try to rig the rules of the game to get their research staffs to achieve the conclusions that they want, rather than conclusions that reflect reality. The example for the class? Paul Ryan. (The issue at hand was his 2010 “Roadmap”, for which he asked the CBO to ignore all possible economic effects of his tax cuts, because, as Mr. Allen states above, he believes tax cuts to be stimulatory.)
To me, Paul Ryan is Sarah Palin with a better education. His ideas are as conservative and (in my opinion) bad for the county, but he wraps them in fuzzy math to make them seem more palatable to the media adjudicators of our society–and is somewhat successful in doing that.
As somebody who spent a lot of time working hard to understand the economic effects of policy, nothing drives me more mad than seeing a trusted news person reading from a congressional white paper something that defies the basics of policy analysis.
Politically speaking, however, I think that the pick of Paul Ryan furthers my hypothesis that the 2012 election is exactly like the 2004 election–a prohibitive front runner during the challenging party’s primaries who the base really does not like running against a bunch of bad candidates who eventually and inevitably wins his party’s nomination to challenge a President with middling approval numbers but who is fiercely hated by the other party’s base, who chooses a running mate which his base absolutely adores but with whom the rest of the country is somewhat unimpressed. I see the end stacking up a lot like 2004–a clear, but close, reelection of the sitting President. (A fun game is trying to match up the primary candidates from 2004 with 2012–Gephardt-Gingrich, Cain-Dean, Bachmann-Mosely Braun, etc).
I think the pick was the best possible one Mitt Romney could have made. But, as a Democrat, I don’t like him.
Blog this!
