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Bookman: Republicans’ fear of Trump keeps others off primary ballots
If any Georgian Republicans are feeling a little queasy about Donald Trump and the direction that he’s taking their party and their country, they won’t have a chance to express it at the primary ballot box. That option has been slammed shut. In a quiet decision earlier this month, the state GOP’s executive committee rejected […]
Bookman: Celebrate loosening of purse strings to study gun violence
‘Tis the season for celebration, so let’s celebrate: For the first time in more than 20 years, Congress has agreed to finance research into one of the leading causes of death in the United States, a killer that takes more than 100 American lives a day and almost 40,000 annually. Now, $25 million isn’t much […]
Bookman: Georgia’s anti-abortion law might shift debate to political arena
For decades, conservative state legislatures have passed anti-abortion bills that they knew would never go into effect because under the Roe v. Wade ruling, such laws were considered a violation of a woman’s constitutional right to privacy. Legislators and governors paid no political price for such actions because it was, in effect, a consequence-free vote, […]
Bookman: It took guts for Kemp to openly defy Donald Trump
It turns out that Gov. Brian Kemp is a bit of a gambler. To be honest, he might also be a little smarter and braver than I had credited him for being. After all, it takes guts for a Republican governor to openly defy Donald Trump these days, and that’s what Kemp has done. Trump […]
Bookman: An unaccountable Donald Trump is dangerous in the extreme
Donald J. Trump used the power of his office to blackmail a foreign ally into undermining a political foe here at home. Nothing in U.S history approaches that abuse of presidential power, yet the gravity of the charges apparently does not matter. The overwhelming evidence proving those charges – the sworn testimony, the emails and […]
Bookman: Velocity of Georgia’s swing from red toward blue is stunning
In deep-red Louisiana, the Democratic incumbent just won re-election as governor despite an all-out effort by President Trump to defeat him. In deep-red Kentucky, a Democrat just beat the Republican incumbent for governor, again despite intervention by Trump. In 2016, a Democrat was elected governor of North Carolina. Last year, Alabama elected a Democrat as […]
Bookman: Trump support with Old Georgia leaves New Georgia impatient
With historic impeachment proceedings now underway in Washington, Georgians appear to be deeply torn both about the job performance of President Trump, his re-election and whether his actions in Ukraine justify investigation and perhaps removal. According to a new poll conducted by the University of Georgia for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 54% of Georgians say they […]
Bookman: Lifeline for struggling rural hospitals not in Kemp’s plans
The limited Medicaid waiver program proposed this week by Gov. Brian Kemp is a sorry excuse for doing almost nothing. At its best, it can extend health insurance to 50,000 Georgians while leaving 10 times that number eligible but uncovered. The problems with Kemp’s approach are no secret. Similar “work-based” programs in Indiana and Arizona […]
Bookman: If you base your defense of Trump on the facts, you are doomed
This is not a complicated situation, although some would prefer that we think so. In fact, it is alarmingly simple: Ukraine is our ally, a country that wants to join us in the ranks of free democracies with market economies. Yet Ukraine is under constant attack by Russia, and to maintain its independence Ukraine desperately […]
Bookman: Appreciation for President Jimmy Carter’s vision and courage
We cannot know the time that we are granted, or that which will be granted to others. So why wait? Why wait to say words of appreciation, words that are deserved and ought to be said and heard? At age 95, Jimmy Carter has been granted enough time that to many younger Americans he is […]
Bookman: Confederate monuments in high-profile places are an insult
For well over a century, a tall stone obelisk has stood unchallenged as a monument to white supremacy in the city square in Decatur, Georgia. But no longer. The monument – erected in 1908 – still stands where it has always stood. The letters “C.S.A,” for Confederate States of America, are still carved in its […]
Bookman: If President Trump is innocent, why lock up the evidence?
President Trump has placed a heavy shroud of silence over the executive branch. Under his orders, no witnesses from the State Department, the Defense Department, the Energy Department, the Department of Justice, the White House or any other executive agency will be allowed to testify under oath to Congress. It’s all shut down. Likewise, no […]