THEN AND NOW
To think it was only two months ago that retired Gen. Colin L. Powell was being mentioned quite prominently among the potential vice-presidential running mates being considered by Republican candidate Sen. John McCain.
One campaign adviser went so far as to confirm that it was Mr. Powell to whom Mr. McCain was referring when he said he would not rule out a pro-choice running mate.
Now, as the country has learned, the Republican (or so we still assume) Mr. Powell has officially thrown his support behind Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy for the White House.
NEW HANNAH MONTANA
“She took the stage in her signature ruby red heels. The crowd erupted with a mighty roar. If only the electricity generated at that moment could have been harnessed; energy crisis, solved. My daughters’ eyes lit up, their digital cameras clicking as fast as they could point and shoot. …
“And like the mom who always has a special surprise for you when you most need it and least expect it, she announced a mystery person had come just for us … Out onto the stage runs Hank Williams Jr. I thought all of the men standing around us were going to simultaneously go into cardiac arrest. I don’t know how this would have gone over in Trenton, New Jersey, but in Richmond, Virginia, this ranked better than a puppy on Christmas morning.”
- Amanda Keller, an author and mother of three residing in Richmond (she grew up across the street from this columnist in Old Town Alexandria), writing on the Associated Content Web site about Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s recent speech at the Richmond International Raceway
MEN FOR McCAIN
Despite Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s entry in the 2008 presidential campaign, most national and state polling conducted immediately after the recent series of presidential and vice-presidential debates showed gender gaps in a range consistent with those taken in presidential elections since 1980.
On the Democratic side, almost all of the polling found women, at a higher level than men, supporting the Democratic ticket - in this case Sens. Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr., according to a summary of polls conducted by the Center for American Women and Politics.
The opposite is true with the Republican ticket, where more men than women supported Sen. John McCain and Mrs. Palin.
TOP TO BOTTOM
We are pleased to report that the long-awaited (ground was broken in June 2000), much-anticipated (space for 4,000 people, with 26 restrooms), highly expensive ($621 million; $100 million of it for design changes after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks) underground U.S. Capitol Visitors Center has received its permanent certificate of occupancy from the fire marshal.
That last hurdle crossed, the spacious mostly marble facility will open its cellar doors to the public on Dec. 2 - the 145th anniversary of the date on which the Statue of Freedom was placed atop the Capitol Dome.
HUMPTY DUMPTY
The nation’s housing market deteriorated into a “house of cards” that ultimately came tumbling down.
That was the assessment of Housing and Urban Development Deputy Secretary Roy A. Bernardi during opening ceremonies for the 52nd International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP) World Congress, meeting this past week in Puerto Rico.
Mr. Bernardi recalled that the U.S. experienced a boom in homeownership and equity wealth creation from 2000 to 2005.
“Homeownership grew to 70 percent of families in the United States,” he said. “That was the highest level in our history. For people in our minority communities, homeownership rose to over 50 percent of families, again a record rate of homeownership.”
Then, he said, it was realized “that the housing market was a house of cards, unsteady, ready to tumble down. And it has, with dire consequences for hundreds of thousands of Americans and for our economy.”
John McCaslin can be reached at 202/636-3284 or jmccaslin@washington times.com.
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