It was a memorable highlight in the health care reform debate, one that will undoubtedly be replayed often in the coming months. Afterwards John McDonough, professor at the Harvard School of Public Health credited Mitt Romney with the "most effective and persuasive rationale and defense of the individual mandate" to date during the Presidential campaign.
Rick Santorum elicited the response from Romney during the January 27 debate between the remaining Presidential candidates in Florida. When he tried to attack "Romneycare," what many believe to be Gov. Mitt Romney's biggest policy success in Massachusetts and a model for the federal health care overhaul, Romney responded with one of his best moments of the evening. "If you don't want to buy insurance, then you have to help pay for . . . your bill . . . no more free riders. We're insisting on personal responsibility. Either get the insurance or help pay for your care."

SALINA, Kan. - "It's actually pretty good," my uncle insisted. When he asked if I had already read my Christmas gift from him, a copy of George W. Bush's Decision Points, I joked that I had been waiting for it to come out in paperback.

My uncle and I frequently give each other books on or by political figures we hold in low esteem. They're sort of gag gifts, but I still usually read them. By listening to opposing points of view one can frequently learn something, and occasionally discover heretofore unknown areas of agreement. I had such an experience reading the 43rd President's book.

Bush's political memoir didn't redefine for me the major points of what I believe his legacy will be for historians. The Bush Presidency will be forever tainted by two disastrous policy decisions - huge tax cuts which ushered in crushing deficits, and the invasion of Iraq, an undertaking billed to a credit card which was not worth the cost. But in a chapter entitled "Leading," he talks of the need to reduce the ideological extremes in Congress and proposes that redistricting be carried out by committees of non-partisan elders.

WICHITA, Kan. - As the Kansas legislature gears up for another session of spending most of their time on abortion bills, I could not help but reflect that Rick Santorum would be the presidential candidate to win Kansas.

Everyone knows a candidate in Kansas only has to support one issue to be electable; support the unborn. Nothing else matters; not a good jobs bill, not money for the arts or providing good healthcare and funding public education, but forcing women to give birth is the ticket to elective office in Kansas. This one issue defines evangelical conservatism across America as well.

Nothing illustrates this better than Rick Santorum's campaign leading up to the Iowa Caucus. A voter in Newton, Iowa asked Santorum about his reaction to a liberal journalists who criticized Santorum's decision to take his deceased infant home to show his other children.

The question quite naturally caused Santorum's wife to tear up.

SALINA, Kan. - The dull roar one hears coming from the White House these days is actually the sound of Obama staffers trying to contain their glee. Is it actually possible that the Republicans will choose Newt Gingrich as their nominee for President?

It's not an earth-shaking prediction to say that Barack Obama will easily defeat the former House Speaker should such a match up unfold. Newt's unelectable. Political ad-makers would undoubtedly have a field day next fall with his thirty-plus years in politics, his three marriages, work as a lobbyist, history of unpredictable and petulant behavior, etc.

Why are Republicans on the verge of nominating a candidate who might threaten to join Alf Landon and Walter Mondale as one of the biggest Presidential-election losers in history?

SALINA, Kan. - Voter fraud is indeed a Kansas problem, as Secretary of State Kris Kobach points out. Not the kind he alleges. The kind he perpetrates.

The real fraud is perpetrated upon voters, not by them. Kobach's failure to account for just under $80 thousand in contributions and expenses, in a campaign that raised just over $157 thousand, is breath-taking for a man who is presently the watchdog, or rather WatchFox, over the chicken house of Kansas' electoral machinery. Was his staff incompetent or did he just flout the law? Choose your poison.

Whatever the case, Kansas voters, beware! One of Kobach's most egregious fellow-perpetrators is U.S. First District Rep Tim Huelskamp. A leading example is Tim's Town Hall Phone meetings.

At first blush, they seem the essence of Democracy. Call in, talk to Rep. Tim firsthand, and hear other Kansans' questions. Efficient, direct -- what could be better?

SALINA, Kan. - I didn't watch the recent Republican candidates' presidential debate in Las Vegas. Call it my personal protest against the ad nauseam campaigning of our present day. A local radio announcer summed it up well the following morning when he asked, "And the election is when?"

Of course I'm not a Republican primary voter. But surely I'm not the only one who feels there's got to be a better way to elect our President and conduct our politics than the current perpetual campaign.

At present states are jockeying to move up their Presidential nominating processes. The way things are going we might even end up with a caucus or primary in December of 2011. Such an occurrence would put even Santa in a foul mood.

"This is about dismantling the Postal Service, getting rid of unions, privatization, and selling post office buildings to developers." - Grey Brechin. Living New Deal Project. Univ. of Calif. Berkley.

BOGUE, Kan. - On the surface, the effort to close small post offices and cut wages and jobs may seem justifiable. Email has dramatically reduced the sale of postage stamps, and the private companies FedEx and UPS are delivering packages door to door.

But, if you dig a little deeper, you find the politics ...

SALINA, Kan. - Sometime in the next few months, when the obituary is written for Michele Bachmann's 2012 Presidential campaign, commentators will look back at her announcement and note the seeds sewn for her demise. On that day, June 11, 2011, her habit of playing fast and loose with the truth finally started to catch up with her.

Upon launching her campaign she likened her determination and spirit to that of hometown hero John Wayne. Problem was, John Wayne was from the town of Winterset, IA, three hours away. Bachmann actually shares hometown roots with serial murderer John Wayne Gacy. The mistake brought attention to one of Mrs. Bachmann's glaring faults - her propensity to set facts aside in pursuit of her political goals.

BASEHOR, Kan. - The August 3 Wall Street Journal opinion piece Bill Clinton Does 'Jim Crow', seems to present a straw issue with little substance in the larger scheme of things.

I realize that some on the Left see any attempt by charlatans like Kris Kobach to impose voter identification as un-American, but is this really an issue that Progressives want to go to the mat on?

If I have to produce ID to set up a bank account, write a check at a retail store, get on an airplane, rent a car, stay in a hotel, or even obtain a library card, I can't for the life of me see why I shouldn't have to produce identification if I'm going to exercise my most fundamental right as a citizen. I understand the argument that, as a fundamental right of American citizenship, the right to vote should not be infringed.

HAYS, Kan. - There's something about a Republican that brings out my chatty side.

For instance, what started today as a quick check of the day's news ended up with my giving in to the temptation to post a comment on The Republican Lawyer Blog.

His entry was entitled Rasmussen: 82% Say a Photo ID Should be Needed to Vote.

Blogger Matt Seurmann ended with the question, "Why not just make it a requirement to vote?"

I felt compelled to answer in the following manner. Here's why not...