Jonathan Miller's Blog, page 411

The RP: Choose Another People! Anti-Semitic Taunts Will Backfire in Bible Belt

Veteran political reporter Jack Brammer revealed in this morning's Lexington Herald-Leader that Larry Forgy, the 1995 GOP nominee for Governor in Kentucky and a leading supporter of State Senate President David Williams' 2011 bid for that same office, made the following statement:

The "only reason" Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear picked former Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson to be his running mate was "to attract New York and Hollywood Jewish money" for the campaign.

The Williams campaign has n...

Thanks for a Great Fathers' Day at The Recovering Politician

I hope you enjoyed today's posts as much as I did.  Our RP Nation is filled with some outstanding writers with some beautiful stories.

We ended a few minutes ago on an important note.  As Phil Osborne suggests, don't forget to tell your father (and all of your loved ones) how much you love them.  If you are lucky enough to have Dad still in your life, make sure to tell him today. 

Say it now.

Phil Osborne: Say It Now

Say it now. You may not have the chance to say it tomorrow.

This is the second Father's Day I'll spend without mine. He passed away in March 2010. He would have been 79 last month.

We had an interesting, and sometimes tumultuous relationship. He was an absentee dad because he had to be. That's where his jobs were. Long-haul trucker, construction worker, shift worker at factories, military service. You get the picture.

But when he was home, I have fond memories of hours at Fultz's pay lake in...

Zack Adams: To a Wonderful Father

My dad was born Clyde Shelly Adams to Clyde and Nancy Adams on December 12, 1956. He was raised an only child and an Army brat. My dad met my mom when she was Denise Ferguson and they married in 1985 (26 years later and they are still going strong). Two years later, I became their first child.

My dad has been in my life from the beginning until now. Everything I wrote about his father in the Memorial Day tribute can also be applied to him (they are practically the same person). He is loving...

Mike Ghouse: A Tribute to my Pluralist Father

Life is all about expressions and completing transactions. Every emotion, thought, action or a change creates a new debt or a favor that needs to re-balanced. Obviously we cannot reciprocate the favors in full, but we have been able to do that with a thank you in the most simplistic way or ratcheting up with complications.   

One of the incomplete transactions of my life was not being able to do the things I wanted to do for my father. As a kid I would step in and take over the work from him s...

Paul Whelan: A Tribute to Boz

My Dad, whose nickname was "Boz" could be a character. 

As a child, I really did not think it unusual to have a father with the name –Boz which was actually the shortened nickname given to him by his brother Allen.  Allen had called him "Bozo" which Daddy liked better than his given name of Elza. During the summer's Daddy like to take us "fishing" on a creek which was branched off the Licking River in Harrison County.  These fishing trips focused more on purchasing junk food like sardines...

Diane Robbins: A Poem for My Father

I am my father's daughter

And proud of  it.

Dad,

You taught me to be humble for most things,

To be proud  of a few things

And to be grateful for all things.

You gave me life. 

You gave me strength.

You gave me roots.

You gave me wings so I could  fly on my own.

And you were always there to catch me when I fell.

You  kissed my tears away and fixed me up when I scraped my knee riding my bike.
And then you fixed the bike, too.
You told me stories and taught me  how to laugh.
You showed me the world...

Mary Potter: Finding my Father

Father's Day celebrates the men who did their part. Not just biological dads, but those men who stuck around to see the job done proper.

For those of us whose fathers didn't stick around, it is a day to wonder what our lives would have been like had they not gone away-gone away through death or divorce or an unquenchable wanderlust or just because they had no intention of being a father and excused themselves from the job.

My father went away six weeks after I was born. I only know him through ...

David Snyder: To a Tough and Gentle Father

Four generations of Snyder men; the author at far left, his father at far right

My Dad, now there's a tough one.  Not that it's tough to talk about my Dad, but rather the man himself.  The kind of Dad who could give you that look when you were a kid, the one that needed no words to get across what he meant – the same look I think I now give my kids, intentionally or unaware.  I have found as I've gotten older that, although my appearance has clearly swayed toward my Mom's side, my personality ...

Carol Andrews: My Political Mentor

"Take care of Number One. Nobody's going to do it for you."

"You need to know a lot of people. Make friends everywhere you go."

Sam and Carol Andrews (with Trixie lurking at bottom)

These were prime pieces of advice from Dad. I heard them most every day until he died. On the first, I haven't always done so well. On the second, I've been fortunate, mostly because of a career in politics.

Dad was political. He was bipartisan. He taught my three brothers and me to be bipartisan, though we haven't s...