Posted April 13, 2016in Political Mercury
GOP party platform calls for banning abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, the Iowa caucuses winner who maintains clear-and-convincing Hawkeye State grassroots networking, picked up 11 of 12 national convention delegates selected at regional party conventions Saturday — including three in the 4th
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Posted April 06, 2016in Featured Story, Homepage Cover Story, Political Mercury
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, tells Political Mercury he’s leading efforts on a bill that would allow delegates to carry firearms into the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in July. Ohio is an open-carry state, but Quicken Loans Arena, the convention venue, prohibits firearms. Asked if attendees should be able to take guns into
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Posted April 01, 2016in Political Mercury
Troubled with what he sees as the emasculating effects of the modern university campus — an environment in which terms like “affirmative consent” and “micro-aggressions” increasingly define the gender and racial rules of engagement — Donald Trump is launching his own college fraternity system with the inaugural chapters slated for chartering at
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Posted March 23, 2016in Political Mercury
A self-described conservative pro-life Catholic, State Sen. Rick Bertrand, R-Sioux City, says his views and political ideology on a host of defining issues largely reconcile with veteran U.S. Rep. Steve King’s. The trouble, Bertrand says, is that King, a Kiron Republican, is now a captive creature of the Washington think-tank power structure who has lost touch with rural Iowa, and more important, has shown limited skill and
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Posted March 16, 2016in Political Mercury
Let’s start with Hillary Clinton in her own words. Last summer, during a 23-minute interview, I asked Mrs. Clinton about a potential running mate, should she achieve the historic status as the first woman to be nominated by a major party for president. Here’s that exchange in the interview of the library
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Posted March 09, 2016in Political Mercury
Being hanged or drawn and quartered. Surely not relaxed ways to expire. What about being burned alive? I interviewed a man with Lou Gehrig’s disease for a newspaper series a few years ago. The descent from able-bodied human to a hostage of one’s own failing motor skills is no smooth, wine-and-cheese-evening
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Posted March 02, 2016in Political Mercury
Whether followed tweet by tweet, or consumed in more middle-aged fashion on cable TV loops, the Republican free-for-all is showing kids exactly how to fight a bully. Don’t run to the authorities (the GOP party boss or the principal as it were). Don’t complain or lament the loss of higher ground, the
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Posted February 24, 2016in Political Mercury
Wanting to hear a debate over abortion or gay marriage? You won’t get any participation from Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett and his fledgling think tank, Engage Iowa, a conservative-leaning organization focused on taxes and the environment. It’s serving as a possible pre-gubernatorial campaign launch vehicle for Corbett, a former
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Posted February 10, 2016in Political Mercury
Iowa, the center of the political universe for the presidential parties’ nominating contests, should be pivotal in the November general election, too, not only as a swing state, but as home to two strong potential vice presidential candidates. Political Mercury has used this space to advance the position that Tom Vilsack
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Posted February 03, 2016in Political Mercury
National radio commentator, writer, public speaker and author Jim Hightower, 73, of Austin, Texas, one of America’s most well-known populist voices, has spent four decades battling what he calls the “Powers That Be” on behalf of the “Powers That Ought To Be” — consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses and just plain
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