Massachusetts finally did it! It elected a woman to the U.S. Senate. And what a woman she is! After a miserable campaign start, in which she turned off even her supporters by appearing too prim, preachy, professorial and sometimes suffocatingly earnest, Elizabeth Warren finally got it. As the campaign moved away from her disappointing handling of the nettlesome …
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Election outcome clearcut; the future, not so much
Last night's outcome was clearcut and gratifying, but the future is as complicated as ever. President Obama performed beyond many expectations in the electoral votes, garnering nearly 100 more than Romney before final numbers are in from Florida. Obama carried all the swing states but North Carolina. He won among women, minorities and young people - everyone but whites, …
Continue reading Election outcome clearcut; the future, not so much
Driven to tears by campaign excesses
I agree with this four-year-old child in Colorado, driven to tears by the election. Politico made public that National Public Radio apologized to this adorable child whose pain I share. I find I'm repeating to myself the NPR mantra of "only a few more days, only a few more days, only a few more days." I'm sick …
Leading newspaper wimps out on editorial endorsements
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has announced it will no longer endorse political candidates, except in some rare undefined instances. What a travesty! Let's face it. A newspaper or television station's endorsement of a candidate probably has little impact on how most people cast their ballots on the highest visibility races. But that newspaper or television …
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Stirring the pot on medical marijuana
Recently I wrote a blog indicating I was tilting yes on Question 3 on medical marijuana. I'm still leaning that way, but I was given pause by a response I received from an individual in law enforcement in California whom I respect but who, because of his position, does not want to be identified. According …
Score one for Obama
President Obama woke up. In last night's debate, he was feisty and factual, conveying that he actually wants another four years and that he is engaged enough to do the job. Mitt Romney, stylistically, didn't give an inch. He was aggressive, bordering on rude and offensive (to the President and the moderator) but, on most issues, …
Controlling the quality of dying
When it comes down to the last weeks and days of an excruciating dying process, it's all about options. If I am terminally ill, determined by my physician to be within six months of dying from an incurable and irreversible disease, then I want my physician to be able to prescribe medication that will allow …
Biden, Ryan debate reassuring to bases
Last night's vice presidential debate, expertly moderated by ABC's Martha Raddatz (a former Channel 5 colleague), was engaging, high energy, substantively revealing, stylistically contrasting, and reassuring to partisans on both sides. (David Brooks' piece in today's NY Times see this as a generational divide.) Vice President Joe Biden had facts, passion, authenticity, and an often …
Tilting yes on medical marijuana referendum
For years, as an editorialist, I supported the medical use of marijuana. I anguished when a cancer-stricken friend, deathly ill from the side effects of chemotherapy, was afraid to smoke pot because it was illegal, notwithstanding reports that doing so could significantly alleviate her symptoms. That's just not fair. Access to marijuana for medical purposes …
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Warren, Brown face to face for first time
She listened, she learned, and took a big step forward. For weeks, many sympathetic to Elizabeth Warren’s US Senate candidacy have expressed exasperation at her campaign and her candidate skills. In this, the important first debate against her often affable opponent, incumbent Scott Brown, she more than held her own. Brown, in an overbearing (television …
Marjorie Arons-Barron 