This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
Editorial board bloggers
Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
Guest bloggers
Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
Karen Irwin of University Place, a mother of four, has been a frequent contributor to The News Tribune's print editions. She has also written for Seattle's Child, Puget Sound Parent, the Tacoma Weekly, the Fayetteville Observer Times and the political blog Right Meets Left. She graduated from California Lutheran University with a degree in English literature and is currently working toward a history degree.
Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/tntopinion.
- All
- Editorial cartoons (285)
- Editorial outtakes (325)
- Election (121)
- How we work (191)
- Taking notice (1871)
- What's coming (989)
- Who's visiting (124)
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| << < | Current | > >> | ||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
- August 2009 (86)
- July 2009 (91)
- June 2009 (94)
- May 2009 (80)
- April 2009 (91)
- March 2009 (99)
- February 2009 (90)
- January 2009 (125)
- December 2008 (111)
- November 2008 (89)
- October 2008 (111)
- September 2008 (87)
- More...
XML Feeds- Guest Users: 378
This editorial will appear in Friday's paper.
Sen. Joe Biden demonstrated formidable authority. Gov. Sarah Palin stayed in the ring with him.
If you win debates by beating expectations, the Alaska governor and the Delaware senator both won their first and only face-off Thursday night.
Palin won biggest simply by hanging in there. Many of her political opponents were hoping for a meltdown on national television – a Katie Couric Moment that would discredit her candidacy and that of John McCain. She refused to oblige them.
Palin didn't come close to Biden in debating points, but she got her share of jabs in, including – while defending McCain's "all of the above" energy policy – a reminder that the senator had referred to offshore drilling as raping the outer continental shelf.
Embarrassing, now that Barack Obama has changed his mind about such drilling.
She stayed on the offensive throughout. For all his skill and experience, Biden was never able to shut Palin down or visibly shake her. She doggedly kept on defending McCain, denouncing "corruption and greed on Wall Street" and aiming appeals at hockey moms and other "Main Street" Americans.
Even when the debate moved into foreign policy – Biden's great strength – Palin refused to stumble. She also proved as adept as him in fending off potentially embarrassing questions. She frequently retreated into rehearsed talking points, but that's what you'd expect from a first-term Alaskan governor suddenly thrust into the glare of presidential politics.
Two conclusions about Palin: Somebody has been briefing her well. And she is a very quick study.
Then there was Biden's impressive performance. Throughout, he was forceful, articulate and authoritative. And human, as when he choked up while talking about the accidental death of his wife and young daughter in 1972.
The senator may be chiefly famous for his gaffes. A single one of those verbal blunders – his witting or unwitting parroting of a speech by British politician Neil Kinnock – helped put an abrupt end to his 1988 presidential campaign.
But Thursday's Biden made no such gaffes. Those who watched saw a senator who would have been a very credible presidential nominee in his own right. It's a shame the country hasn't seen more of that Joe Biden over the last 20 years.
You'd think the Oscars were on. Nearly everybody I know is in a tizzy over the Palin-Biden vice-presidential debate tonight.
Friends are rearranging social plans and other commitments in order to watch the debate. My wife, Anne, is bemoaning the fact she's obliged to be at the opening of the The Grand Cinema's annual film festival.
We're going to tape the debate. But I'm facing a marital quandary. Do I loyally accompany my loved one, or do I bail and watch the debate with friends? Anne says it's my call. Yikes.
