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A couple of Sundays back I mentioned in a column on our uncivil political discourse that I would be leaving The Oregonian after the election. Some readers believed it was my final column and probably have wondered how they can miss me if I never leave. Today's column is my last. I'm leaving. I promise. It is an odd thing to walk away from a job you once so longed to have. I wanted to a follow in the line of H.L. Mencken, Red Smith, Murray Kempton, G.K. Chesterton and Malcolm Muggeridge. I wanted to be what St. Augustine once...

There's battle lines being drawn Nobody's right if everybody's wrong -- Buffalo Springfield What is happening to us? What explains the boorishness, hate and even violence that increasingly mark our politics? No, this isn't another prissy commentary on "negative" ads -- another high-sounding homily on how we ought to focus on "the issues," by which the writer means "the issues that I think voters should focus on." Nor is this a screed against demonstrations, however boisterous, or some young fools' lawn-sign stealing. There's no interest here in trampling on free-speech rights or spitting into the wind of what must be...

Ed Andrieski Forget "Joe the Plumber." That Joe, after all, isn't running for office, and his only claim to fame is managing, when approached by Barack Obama, to get the Democrat to reveal his philosophy of taxation ("spread the wealth around"). For having the audacity to actually elicit information that told us something about Obama, poor Joe was promptly vetted by a media claque that hasn't been keen on vetting the first-term senator from Illinois. No, it's "Joe the Senator" who should concern us. Our text today is what the ever-voluble vice presidential candidate said about Obama at a...

The issue nobody's talking about, and it's not raceOK, you want to talk issues. You're tired of talking personalities, character, experience and Sarah Palin's eyewear. You've had it contemplating whether Barack Obama's or John McCain's campaign ads are more full of lies and distortions. You're above all this bunkum. You want to talk about some substantive difference between the two presidential candidates that could shape the way we live -- that could alter some basic American value -- in the decades to come. So here's the issue. It's a big one that's below the surface and not getting a lot...

How lame is the energy bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had her House Democrats pass through the House on Tuesday? Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu said before the vote that Pelosi's handiwork would be "dead on arrival" in the Senate. This from a Democrat who's up for re-election in an oil-and-gas state that would seem to gain from the bill's much-ballyhooed expansion of offshore drilling? What gives? For starters, Landrieu knows that the limited drilling the House leadership allows in principle -- it opens up waters 50 miles from shore with state approval -- is made next to impossible in practice....

Barack Obama and Joe Biden made me do this: I wasn't going to write about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin today. My last three columns focused on John McCain's running mate, and I was getting tired of writing about Palin. I mean, she's a vice presidential candidate. But Obama and Biden don't seem to agree. They seem to think they're running against Palin. It's a strange way to run a presidential campaign. You don't see McCain and Palin zeroing in on Biden. It's especially strange since the Palin pick has proved popular, especially among women. Obama and Biden seem preoccupied with...

I like the fact that a Vice President Sarah Palin would make history. I like all the loaded "Does she have (lack) the experience?" questions from people who wouldn't favor her if she had John Adams' resume . . . who've spent the last eight months concerned not at all with a Democratic presidential candidate's lack of experience or concrete accomplishments. I like the comparisons with Barack Obama -- a dozen years of executive experience next to his none, more executive experience than Obama and Joe Biden combined, a record of actual bipartisan achievement that's in line with her rhetoric...

My pet theory these days is that, as swiftly as the news cycle now moves, it's hard to fathom the real impact of an event until days, weeks or months later. The instant analysis of a speech, debate or convention so often looks wrong, even silly, a short while later. Bush landing on an aircraft carrier and speaking before a "Mission Accomplished" banner didn't seem so nifty a few years and a few thousand dead U.S. soldiers later. The military hero theme and John Kerry's "reporting for duty" shtick at the 2004 Democratic Convention looked like a big mistake --...

Amid the cascade of words pouring out of Denver this week, none may have more long-term punch than the bubbly Mile High musings of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday's "Meet the Press." Tom Brokaw had asked about Barack Obama saying that deciding when life begins was "above my pay grade." Pelosi showcased the Peter Principle in action. It says that people rise to the level of their incompetence. Her answer showed that the principle has nothing to do with Saint Peter. "I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for...

E ver wonder how Barack Obama, the great healer, ended up with a more radical record on abortion than Sen. Hillary Clinton or even the zealots at NARAL Pro-Choice America? It comes down to the "Born-Alive Infants Protection Act." The bill was designed to provide legal protection for babies born alive during an abortion. Babies like the ones ex-nurse Jill Stanek saw discarded and left for dead at her hospital. The experience moved her to push for "Born Alive" legislation in Illinois, but Obama voted against the legislation -- three times. Congress passed the federal "Born Alive" bill in 2002...

A few weeks back I spoke with U.S. Rep. John Peterson, and the Pennsylvania Republican told me about one House Democrat he almost persuaded to vote to expand oil and natural gas drilling in the nation's outer continental shelf. This Democrat would vote for the bill, he told Peterson, if Peterson could assure him that lifting the decades-old ban on offshore drilling would not lower U.S. gasoline prices. That's right, Peterson's Democratic colleague wanted to keep gasoline prices high to encourage conservation. I didn't pass this along in a June 26 column on Peterson's legislative efforts, in part because he...

Maybe you've noticed this, too. The less sure people are of their views, the more inclined they are to name-call, yell and bully. I've noticed this when it comes to religion and politics and life in general, but I've had trouble getting used to it when it comes to science. Science is supposed to be about irreducible facts, the discipline of the scientific method, repeatable experiments, rigorous analysis and solid conclusions rather than sound bites, insults, threats and public relations campaigns. But look at global warming and climate change. The Weather Channel's top climatologist says broadcast meteorologists who voice skepticism...

Not funny. There's Barack and Michelle Obama fist-bumpin' in the Oval Office. He's in Islamic garb -- a turban, tunic and sandals. She's a study in radical chic -- Afro, combat fatigues and boots, AK-47 strapped to her back. A portrait of Osama bin Laden gazes down on the first couple. An American flag burns in the Oval Office fireplace. Not funny. Obama's team was spot on in calling The New Yorker cover "tasteless and offensive." John McCain was right to call it "inappropriate" and "offensive." I'm a big fan of cartoon kicks and giggles and no fan of either...

Judicial activism. Legislating from the bench. Ideological decision-making by judges. No sooner had the Supreme Court announced its decision in District of Columbia v. Heller than critics of the 5-4 majority decision and the court's sometimes-conservative majority cried all the above. In holding that the Second Amendment granted individuals the right to keep and bear arms, the court's conservatives -- those champions of judicial modesty and originalism -- were now engaging in judicial activism of their own. Yes, everybody does it, and conservatives are just hypocrites for pretending otherwise. The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne Jr. was at the head of...

Does Congress like $4-a-gallon gasoline? Or natural gas selling at double what it was a year ago? We know $4 a gallon has motorists in the mood to step up domestic oil production, and skyrocketing heating costs will likely do the same for homeowners, come winter. But is Congress willing to do something to drive down prices? We'll soon see, thanks to Rep. John Peterson. After its July 4 recess, the House will have a chance to vote on his measure to allow drilling off our coastline. The Pennsylvania Republican has made a distinguished career of trying to end the...

A week later it's still baffling. In fact, it's one of the more baffling lines ever uttered by a candidate laying claim to his party's presidential nomination. It came last week on the night Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination over Hillary Clinton. "In just a few short months, the Republican Party will arrive in St. Paul with a very different agenda," he told the multitude before him. "They will come here to nominate John McCain, a man who has served this country heroically. I honor that service, and I respect his many accomplishments, even if he chooses to deny...

W–ell, I was wondering when I was going to hear from you two. I can't say a conference call is the best way to do relationship counseling, and calling in from two different locations tells me we've got some work to do here at Happy Days Are Here Again Counseling. Hillary, I have to say that if you were really committed to this relationship, you could have at least been in St. Paul for Barack's big night. I mean, an African American won the nomination of a major political party. This is a moment that all Americans, white and black,...

I don't think Barack Obama favors appeasing our enemies, and it's beyond my understanding why he cried foul when President Bush spoke last week to the Israeli Knesset about the general folly of appeasement. After all, even if Obama is raring to sit down and chat up the globe's worst thugs without any preconditions, it doesn't necessarily mean he'll give in to their demands. Talking isn't appeasing. We'll only know if Obama is an appeaser if he gets a chance to parley with the leaders of Iran, Venezuela, Syria, Cuba and North Korea and they have their way with him....

It's been a swell few months for the Republican base since John McCain wrapped up the nomination. Democrats have disemboweled themselves in a titanic clash that pits Barack Obama's hope against Hillary Clinton's history. The Clintons have shown their true colors in helping voters to see Obama's. Republicans have reunited in a way that was unthinkable just months ago, although, as McCain told me this week, there's still "re-energizing to do." Monday's global warming speech at Vestas Wind Technology likely won't help. Then, again, it probably wasn't supposed to. Re-energizing the base is so primary season. Monday was the start...

The requests, demands and suggestions started coming in after my first column on the relationship between the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. and Barack Obama. They multiplied after the cool, collected candidate broke with his red-hot crackpot pastor, and I asked what took so long. Why did it take 20 years for him to denounce Wright's hate-filled, anti-American ravings? "I'd really like to read your take on the relationship between John McCain and Rev. John Hagee," read one of the more civil ones. This one is from the snarky variety: "So here's your big chance! I look forward to your next...