Posted June 29, 2016in Political Mercury
What’s the difference between Donald Trump and Earl Butz? Short answer: Trump’s comments about Mexicans and a Mexican-American judge and “my African American” are worse than Butz’s joke — or, for that matter, Trent Lott’s endorsement. Butz’s infamous 1976 racist joke was far less troubling. Then there is Lott’s retro-endorsement
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Posted June 22, 2016in Political Mercury
Like a marshal in a dusty Old West village, city officials from the western Iowa town of Carroll issued a lawbreaker an ultimatum. Leave town in three days. Or else. The bad guy in this story: an 18-month-old Chesapeake Bay retriever named Lambeau (after the iconic Green Bay,
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Posted June 15, 2016in Political Mercury
In his nearly 60 years of public service — having first been elected to the Iowa Legislature in 1958 — U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley has run on tickets with many Republicans. Now his name is on the ballot under Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, and that will prove devastating for
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Posted June 08, 2016in Political Mercury
(Note: Douglas Burns wrote this column prior to Tuesday’s primary. It remains relevant for three reasons: First, Rick Bertrand could have pulled off an upset. Second, if Bertrand’s numbers are strong enough for financial supporters, he could mount an independent candidacy in the 4th District general election. And third, no
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Posted June 01, 2016in Political Mercury
Congressional candidate Jim Mowrer on May 26 showed a professional political bearing that escaped his two rivals for the Democratic nomination in Iowa’s 3rd District, a sweep of the rural Hawkeye State bookended by Des Moines and Council Bluffs. Mowrer, an Iraq War veteran who took on U.S. Rep. Steve King,
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Posted May 25, 2016in Political Mercury
Patty Judge wouldn’t reveal the internal poll numbers inspiring that twinkle in her eye. But the veteran Iowa politician, the former lieutenant governor and state secretary of agriculture, says she’s a highly secure presumptive nominee in a four-person Democratic primary June 7. What’s more, Judge says she’ll be a competitive force in
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Posted May 11, 2016in Political Mercury
Donald Trump, the bombastic billionaire who has defied convention, confounded expert prediction, and punctured the business of punditry to obsolescence, now has his self-described large hands gripping the Republican presidential nomination. His speech last Tuesday from Trump Tower in New York City amounted to a rhetorical basketball net cutting for this
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Posted May 04, 2016in Political Mercury
Hillary Clinton covered a wide swath of issues — many dealing specifically with rural economic development, opportunities for Iowa small towns — in a 23-minute interview with Political Mercury on a summer Sunday afternoon in Carroll leading up to Iowa caucuses. Clinton, who logged more than a million miles of
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Posted April 27, 2016in Political Mercury
Yes, Bruce Willis’ character really being dead all along got me in “The Sixth Sense” — and the movie particularly creeped me as I watched it in 1999 during a hurricane north of Boston. There have been other shockers in my cinema-going days, particularly in the late 1980s and early
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Posted April 20, 2016in Political Mercury
So the eager suitor shows up to collect your daughter for a date. He’s earnest and honest about his intentions. The young man (let’s call him Taylor) is clear about his evening’s plans. Astonishingly, Taylor even tells you his designs for a night of drinking and intercourse with your daughter. Yep,
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