G. Terry Madonna
Thu, December 10, 2009
Huckabee Hysteria: A Costly Obsession
Nine years after a dubious decision that eventually freed future cop killer, Maurice Clemmons, the once and no longer future presidential candidate is taking his lumps. All hell has broken loose for ...
Mon, November 16, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
Tom Corbett's Problem
By G. Terry Madonna & Michael L. Young
Attorney General Tom Corbett has a problem. More precisely, he had a problem. More about that in a moment!
Fri, October 30, 2009
Politically Uncorrected:
Pennsylvania's Churchillian Problem
By G. Terry Madonna & Michael L. Young
Let's be frank. Pennsylvania's long running dilemma about selecting judges is here for the duration. It's been around a ...
Thu, October 22, 2009
Until the Bitter End
Call it gubernatorial chic!
Since 1970 Pennsylvania has had an unbroken string of two term governors – Milton Shapp, Dick Thornburgh, Bob Casey, Tom Ridge, and now ...
Wed, October 07, 2009
Politically Uncorrected: Is PA Nation's New Future?
By G. Terry Madonna & Michael L. Young
Why? Why has Pennsylvania now failed for some four months to enact an annual budget spending plan, making it, excepting ...
Fri, October 02, 2009
The Partisan Divide
By G. Terry Madonna and Berwood Yost
The Franklin and Marshall College National Poll released last week has President Obama's job performance at 51 percent ...
Fri, September 11, 2009
Politically Uncorrected:
The Goldilocks Principle in American Politics
In politics, text and subtext don't always tell the same tale. This time, however, they do. The text in question can be found in almost any story this summer about the Obama administration. Some ...
Wed, August 26, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
The New California? Not!
By G. Terry Madonna & Michael L. Young
"Pennsylvania: The New California!" That jarring headline ricocheted around the nation this week courtesy of ...
Fri, August 07, 2009
Politically Uncorrected:
PA's odd man out
As a society we ask many probing questions about our politics and our politicians. Sometimes, however, we miss the obvious one – the question so self evident, so plain, and so clear that we overlook ...
Tue, August 04, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
The Phony-Baloney Budget
By G. Terry Madonna & Michael L. Young
What do you call a budget that isn't really a budget? Or what do you call a budget bill that isn't to be taken ...
Fri, July 10, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
A Different Budget
It's different. Almost everyone agrees about that. Pennsylvania's perennially late and politically outrageous budget process isn't like
the previous six perennially late and politically ...
Wed, July 08, 2009
Franklin & Marshall College Poll
An analysis of same-sex marriage and civil unions
The politics of polarization and partisanship, often at the expense of moderation and compromise, has driven much legislative behavior since the 1980s. No issue exemplifies this way of conducting ...
Mon, June 15, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
Deja Vu All Over Again
"It's like déjà vu all over again." These weighty words from the well known philosopher Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra nail precisely the way most Pennsylvanian's feel as they ...
Tue, June 02, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
Giant Killer
Joseph A. Sestak!
A household name across Pennsylvania he is not. Yet Congressman Sestak, who represents Pennsylvania's seventh congressional district (largely ...
Mon, May 04, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
The Endangered Republicans
What a difference a few years can make! Earlier this decade (2001) we wrote an article that resonated widely with observers of state politics.
It was entitled "The Endangered ...
Fri, April 24, 2009
Corruption: No Longer an Iffy Proposition in PA
The question is no longer a speculative one. No longer can we ask "if"
corruption, widespread and systematic, is returning full bloom to Pennsylvania. Instead, it is now time to ask ...
Wed, April 01, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
A Specter to Behold
It's a specter to behold. Pennsylvania's most successful politician in modern times is on the ropes and engaged in what looks like the fight of his life.
Arlen Specter, running for an ...
Tue, March 17, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
Fumo's Fini
Finally it's fini! The state's most extensive public corruption trial in a generation is over after five months, more than 100 witnesses, and some 1,300 exhibits. The jury's verdict, ending one of ...
Thu, March 05, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
What you want vs. what you get
One of the more provocative questions in public life is whether public opinion actually matters much in setting public policy. Does what ordinary people think, say or feel about government policy ...
Fri, February 06, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
Rendell's Magical Budget
"Nothing focuses the mind like a hanging," English lexicographer Samuel Johnson famously proclaimed. That's probably so! But before this year's state budget battle is over, Pennsylvania's ...
Wed, January 28, 2009
Politically Uncorrected:
Casey Moving into the Batting Circle
Nature notoriously abhors a vacuum. Not surprisingly, so does politics.
Indeed political power vacuums are filled just as certainly as they are in any state of nature. Sometimes the process is ...
Mon, January 19, 2009
Politically Uncorrected:
Gubernatorial Appointments & Buggy Whips
Eloquent messages can be delivered by inelegant messengers. Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois is the latest flawed messenger to remind us of that elemental truth. Blagojevich's ham-handed efforts ...
Fri, January 02, 2009
Politically Uncorrected
Bad, Worse & Worst: The Short List of Vice Presidents Who Probably Shouldn't Have Been
Tis the season for lists--all kinds of lists--including the best movies, top
celebrities, most successful sports figures, even the dumbest utterances of
the year.
Thu, December 11, 2008
Politically Uncorrected:
Madame Secretary: Old Wine in a New Bottle
Why did she do it? Why did Hillary Clinton agree to become secretary of state in an Obama administration? Many believe it effectively ends any presidential aspirations she may have, locks her into a ...
Tue, December 02, 2008
Politically Uncorrected
Pa's Dead-End Sure Thing
For state Republicans running for it, it's a safe bet, sure thing, shoo-in; for incumbents in it, it's a dead end, brick wall, road to electoral nowhere. We can only be describing Pennsylvania's ...
Thu, November 06, 2008
Politically Uncorrected
The Political Hat Trick
All elections matter, but not all elections portend change or leave us smarter about our politics. The past presidential election, however, scored the hat trick. It was one that mattered, one that ...
Fri, October 17, 2008
Politically Uncorrected:
An Outlier in Pennsylvania
It's no secret. Republicans are running for the proverbial hills as wave after wave of brutal economic news breaks over their political heads.
The climate for GOP candidates is bad – bad as it ...
Fri, October 10, 2008
Politically Uncorrected
Pennsylvania's Last Hurrah?
Is it over? Could the lights be dimming on Pennsylvania's long-playing role as a national electoral battleground?
At first blush, the question seems improbable. ...
Fri, September 26, 2008
Politically Uncorrected
Will We Screw It Up Again?
Peggy Noonan writing recently for the Wall Street Journal captured the angst that many feel about their presidential choices this year. "Do you worry," she asked, "that neither of them ...
Fri, September 19, 2008
Politically Uncorrected:
The Other Woman in the Race
If John McCain wins this race, it will be because of the woman he put on the
ticket. That, in sum and substance, is the prevailing opinion of the
moment-about both the presidential contest ...
Wed, September 10, 2008
Politically Uncorrected
The Cheneysizing of the Vice Presidency
Its precursor was Harry Truman, it reached full stride with Richard Nixon, achieved its peak with Walter Mondale, and may have ended with Al Gore. Thus, one might eulogize the modern vice ...
