By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jan 5, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET
It’s not a medical breakthrough to reverse memory loss.
Consider it more of a coping mechanism. And a darned good one at that.
Maybe memory loss is inevitable with the aging process….but don’t despair. Don’t cede anything to our younger colleagues! Instead, finesse!
You don’t need to know a whole lot in this life to be profoundly effective, successful and fulfilled. We really need only to kno…w “a little.”
The trick is to have some attitude about the little we still retain. And sometimes, if need be, ratchet up a little more attitude to drive the point home.
Afraid you’ll have trouble remembering all this? Don’t. Watch the video–repeatedly–until it becomes second nature. It says it all. And with the attitude.
By Jonathan Miller, on Sun Jan 1, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Happy New Year!
I hope 2012 brings you joy, laughter, love, happiness, and many pints of tasty hummus. Here at The Recovering Politician, we plan some exciting new features that we will share with you in the weeks ahead.
For now, as you rest and recover from your New Year’s Eve celebration — and recharge your batteries for a busy January — I wanted to share with you some good reading material.
The first nine months at The Recovering Politician have seen more than 1200 posts from over three dozen contributors. I share my favorites below; please let me know what I missed in the comments section:
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 RPMichael 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 RPKathleen 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.
Thanks for joining us in 2011. Stay tuned for a wild and wonderful 2012.
Mitt Romney is alive again. The revived pulse is measured in several forms, from a substantial narrowing in Newt Gingrich’s lead in the Gallup national tracking poll, to a Rasmussen survey putting Romney on top in Iowa, to the persistent and growing advantage Romney holds in New Hampshire.
Gingrich has some of his own propensities to blame. Before the heroic comeback story, the saga of a man grittily fighting back from despair, could take hold, Gingrich turned triumphalist: in his immodest account, he was redesigning campaign strategy in the way Sam Walton and Ray Kroc invented the modern consumer market. He reverted to the cerebral analyst coldly assessing the trend-lines.
Then, the politician who eloquently denounced intra-party infighting unveiled a caustic edge: the pundits who admired the smoothness of his jabs in the ABC debate were too tone-deaf to hear the jeers in the room when the guy who was forced out of his speakership ridiculed Romney for losing an election.
Nor has it helped Gingrich that the entirety of the Republican philosopher wing has assailed him, from the old lions, David Brooks and Charles Krauthammer, to the young turks like Ross Douthat, to the venerable National Review. Not one of them is mandatory reading in the early states, but the intelligentsia do matter in the corridors of New York and Washington, where money and endorsements should have been flowing to a newly minted front-runner with stature. The case they have made is personal and cutting, and reminds the GOP elite of why Gingrich was consigned to disgrace.
Unfortunately for Democrats, when you take into account money, organization, and candidate discipline in addition to polling, Romney was really never not the frontrunner.
But don’t be fooled by Romney’s above-the-fray tack last night. For the next three weeks, Romney will be savaging Gingrich (and anyone else who is rapidly rising in his campaign’s internal polling) on TV, radio, and in the mailbox.
The name of the game for Romney will be to project as positively as possible in his own appearances while, underneath the seemingly placid surface, his ad campaign and his surrogates will be as nasty as necessary until he regains his lead in national polls.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Dec 14, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
Today, we introduce an exciting new feature at The RP: John Y.’s “Musings from the Middle.”Contributing RP and former Kentucky Secretary of State John Y. Brown, III, has set Facebook on fire the past few months with his thoughtful, often hilarious posts on his Facebook page. Having reached the limit of 5000 friends, John Y. is now sharing his wit and wisdom with the RP Nation as well. Enjoy, and be sure to fire away in the comments section.
New habits are almost always achieved incrementally.
A handy tool is the “stages of development” between an old habit and the adoption of a new habit. For example, the stages for adopting a fitness regimen. For me, the 8 Stages have been as follows.
Disgust. Hitting bottom with one’s weight and/or appearance.
Joining a gym. Purchasing a gym membership.
Circling. Driving to the gym and circling it several times in your car before leaving.
Entering. Going inside gym and meeting person at front desk and using restroom. Before leaving.
Augmentation. Joining a second gym.
Canceling. Terminating both gym memberships
Acceptance. Making peace with your weight and appearance as it is.
Contrition. Doing an act that salves a sense of guilt and failure (e.g., joining a morning mens accountability group—but one that serves doughnuts.)
Contributing RP Greg Harris, a former Cincinnati City Councilman, has thrown his hat back into the ring, running for a spot on the Hamilton County Commission.
Democrat Greg Harris, a former Cincinnati council member who lost his seat two years ago, is running for a spot on the Hamilton County Commission.
That means GOP Commissioner Greg Hartmann will have to campaign and actually face the voters this year — something he escaped in 2008 when the leaders of both political parties made a backroom deal to give him a free pass for his first term. When Democrats complained about the 2008 deal, Republican Chairman Alex Triantafilou called them “radicals.”
But democracy has bloomed in this year of the Arab Spring. Triantafilou, Hartmann and the GOP will have to work to hold the seat. Harris, 40, holds a Ph.D. from Miami University. He is a West Sider andused his stint onCincinnati’s Council to push for reforms that included consolidation of city and county services to save money. Harris was interested in seeing if the city police department and county sheriff’s department could be combined to save tax dollars.
During a chat with The Daily Bellwether today , Harris said he was pumped for the contest and would file nominating petitions tomorrow: “This is a race I really wanted. The county is in a lot of trouble and there isn’t any evidence Greg Hartmann is getting us closer to resolving the issues.” Harris said he was particularly irked over Hartmann’s proposal to use millions of dollars from an indigent healthcare levy to pay off debts from the stadiums.
“That really put a fire in my belly,” Harris said of Hartmann’s proposal. “I don’t know how anybody can think that way, that it’s okay to raid healthcare for the poor to pay for Mike Brown’s stadium.” Harris also said there are issues about Hartmann’s attendance and work habits. “He’s originally from Texas, there’s a lot of issues about absenteeism with him, I work very hard, I really value constituent services. I don’t like the term politician. like public servant.” You can read quite a bit about Harris’ biography on this webpage left over from his Council campaign. There is morebackground info available here.
He should have played a more active last fall by working with Sens. Durbin and Coburn – both friends of his – to build some modicum of bipartisan consensus around the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles commission that he created.
It’s not inconceivable to think that something could’ve passed during the 2010 lame duck session, when “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was repealed with the support of several Republicans. By the time the supercommittee got down to work, it was probably too late; opinion had congealed on both sides.
I first entered politics in 2004 at the age of 17, going door-to-door in my home county of Hamilton County, Indiana for Gov. Joe Kernan and the Kerry-Edwards campaign. I can recall meeting with an organizer at a coffeeshop with a high school friend of mine and being handed a packet of names, a bundle of brochures, and a Joe Kernan for Governor lapel sticker. Out we went, knocking on door after door in the neighborhoods of Noblesville, the county courthouse’s majestic clock tower looming in the background. Having finally exhausted our packets after several hours, we returned to Democratic headquarters where we were greeted by a bevy of seasoned local Democratic activists (read: cute, earnest, little old ladies).
What ensued was a full twenty minutes of gushing and doting that centered on one theme: how precious of you two to be volunteering for a political campaign when you can’t even vote yourselves! They were enamored with us, and we with the compliments. That was the day I decided that an activity that felt this good had to be something I pursued in some more substantive way moving forward, which brings us to the University of Kentucky.
In my first semester as a college freshman, I attended a campus event at which student organizations could promote themselves and happened upon the table for the UK College Democrats. Intrigued, I got to talking to several of their members and agreed to attend their first meeting, which, like any well-planned first semester meeting featured free pizza and soda. I became a regular at these meetings over the coming weeks and when a position opened up at the end of the semester for the chapter treasurer, I was nominated and unanimously elected to the position. I served as the treasurer for some three months before our president announced she would not be running. All heads in the room turned to me and I was once again nominated and unanimously elected president of the chapter, the youngest such president in chapter history. While I was president of the UK chapter, we volunteered for John Yarmuth’s winning 2006 congressional campaign as well as for the campaign of Ken Lucas in northern Kentucky’s 4th district. It was while working on the latter campaign that I first met a man who would come to play a pivotal role in my development as a professional political staffer.
Read the rest of… Richard Becker – How I Got Bit by the Political Bug
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Tue Nov 22, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
This is just the tip of an oppo iceberg that would make Herman Cain’s look like a pebble.
With the prospects of a vulnerable president and a Senate that’s clearly within reach, I just can’t imagine Republicans nominating someone so noxious among independents, someone with so much baggage. But Newt’s boomlet is yet another sign of the fact that this was really Rick Perry’s nomination to lose – something Perry’s worked diligently to do almost since the day he entered.
Every day this media-manufactured boomlet persists is another day that some enterprising journalist will dig a little deeper into Newt’s past. Like Cain, he’ll claim that the liberal media is trying to bring him down, when in reality, it will be his own pattern of reckless personal, political, and profit-seeking behavior that will do the trick.
It’s not a medical breakthrough to reverse memory loss.
