Excerpted from Townhall Magazine's April installemnt of The A-List, "10 Politicians We Can't Believe Ever Got Elected-Or Re-Elected," by John Hanlon:

1.) Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA)
The brother of a former president and a former presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Kennedy had limitless political possibilities ahead of him in the 1960s. But in 1969, a car Kennedy was driving went off a bridge and Mary Jo Kopechne—his fellow passenger— was killed. Kennedy failed to report the accident until the next day and “pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident,” according to CNN.com. But the voters didn’t hold that against him. He was re-elected senator until his death in 2009.

2.) Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA)
In 2005, FBI agents “found $90,000 in marked bills in [Congressman William] Jefferson’s freezer,” according to The New York Times. He won re-election in 2006 but was eventually defeated in 2008. He was later sentenced to a 13-year prison sentence “on a slew of federal corruption charges,” according to Politico.

3.) Rep. Charles Diggs (D-MI)
The late Rep. Charles Diggs “was indicted on charges that, among other things, he had taken kickbacks from three of his Congressional employees” in 1978, according to The New York Times. As the paper reports, he was found “guilty of all 29 counts against him in October 1978” before winning re-election. He was eventually censored and went to prison.

4.) Alderman/Rep./Mayor/Gov. James Michael Curley (D-MA)
According to Slate.com, Massachusetts Democrat James Michael Curley “won an alderman’s seat in 1904 while serving time for impersonating a friend and taking the civil-service exam.” He was later elected representative, mayor of Boston and the governor of Massachusetts. His criminal record continued into his career. According to Slate, “he was convicted of mail fraud” and spent time in jail as mayor before President Harry Truman intervened.

5.) D.C. Mayor/ Councilman Marion Barry (Democrat)
Marion Barry is now a councilman in the nation’s capital but previously served as the city’s mayor. As mayor, Barry was caught “smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room” in 1990, according to CNN.com. Four years later, he was re-elected mayor.

To read who else made our list, subscribe to Townhall Magazine and get our April issue!

 

 

 

Excerpted from Townhall Magazine's February feature, "Why Hollywood Went Southern," by John Hanlon:

In the 2011 blockbuster “Battle: Los Angeles,” the City of Angels faced an attack from an outside force that threatened everyone in the town and their way of life.

In reality, though the alien enemy from that film doesn’t exist, an outside force has significantly undercut the vibrancy of a town known for its vast array of film and television productions. The external force? Tax credits, which are quickly moving film and television productions far away from the Hollywood Hills.

The production of “Battle: Los Angeles” brings this situation into stark focus.

Ironically enough, the movie about aliens attacking Los Angeles was predominantly shot far away from the city it portrayed. Much of “Battle: Los Angeles” was actually filmed in Louisiana, a state that is taking full advantage of California’s high taxes and helping to create a burgeoning industry in the state. As the Los Angeles Times reported, “Except for the movie’s opening sequences at Camp Pendleton and the alien beach attack in Santa Monica, 90% of the film was shot in Louisiana’s capital, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport in the northwest part of the state.”

This wasn’t the first time that Hollywood surrendered a major production to a state that was actively competing with California for business. What is interesting, though, is that despite seeing the effect a higher tax burden is having in their industry as productions head to the South, many celebrities continue to extol the virtues of higher taxes.

Big Screen Federalism

In many political debates, conservatives usually argue states should often be empowered to make their own economic decisions. Small-government advocates note that, when the federal government backs off, individual states can compete with one another for businesses, jobs and economic prosperity.

The value of such competition can clearly be seen in the filmmaking 0H Economy industry over the last decade. While Hollywood has always competed with foreign locations and cities in the United States for film and television productions, the competition has stiffened over the past 11 years.

That’s because in 2002, everything changed.

Anthony Cave, reporting for the New York Times Student Journalism Institute, wrote that “[i]n 2002, the Louisiana legislature passed the Louisiana Motion Picture Tax Incentive Act, which gives movie productions that spend at least $300,000 in the state a 30 percent tax credit on those expenses.” Cave reported that New Orleans—for instance—was greatly rewarded because of such credits. He wrote, “MovieMaker magazine ranked New Orleans, dubbed ‘Hollywood South,’ as the No. 1 city for moviemakers in 2012.” In the years after the tax credits passed, film productions have moved to the Bayou State, including high-budget films like “Battleship” and “Twilight: Breaking Dawn.” ...

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Despite a tough election day last November, Republicans still have dozens of leaders in Congress, in governor’s mansions and even out of office who are worth keeping an eye on. These leaders could serve to counter President Obama’s second-term agenda or be mulling major political campaigns. With that in mind, Townhall composed a list of 10 Republicans to watch in 2013.

Excerpted from Townhall Magazine's January installment of "A-List," by John Hanlon:

2.) Paul Ryan

The former vice presidential candidate may have been brought down by November’s election results, but he’s certainly not out and will likely continue to serve as a strong voice for fiscal restraint in the new Congress.

5.) Scott Brown

Despite losing his Senate seat in 2012 to Elizabeth Warren, Brown remains a popular figure in the blue state of Massachusetts and could make a comeback in 2013, especially if Sen. John Kerry resigns his seat to work for the Obama administration.

6.) Ted Cruz

As a tea party candidate who won against an establishment figure in the GOP primary, this freshman senator from Texas could become a major voice for conservative principles during his first year in the Senate.

8.) Susana Martinez

The first Latina governor in the United States has already proven to be successful during her first term as governor of New Mexico, but 2013 could push her into the national spotlight more as the GOP tries to highlight its female rising stars.

Order the January issue of Townhall Magazine today!

 

 

After years of campaign coverage and a rough primary, the 2012 presidential election has finally arrived. With such a tight race, the results could go either way. Townhall has conservatives prepared with a list of 10 things to do on election night—no matter who wins.

From Townhall Magazine's November installment of "The A-List" by John Hanlon:

If Your Side's Winning ...

1. Watch MSNBC

The MSNBC hosts have an affinity for spinning even bad election results in their favor—see their coverage of the failed Walker recall where President Obama was declared a big winner for the night—but it’s going to be tough for them to make an Obama loss seem like anything more than an Obama defeat.

2. Order as many “Hope and Change” posters as possible.

They are going to be collector’s items one day.

3. Brainstorm names for Joe Biden’s soonto- be announced program on Current TV.

“Former Vice Presidents Say the Darndest Things?”

4. Practice saying, “One-term president Barack Obama.”

Just say it the same way you say things like “The New Coke” and “the Star Wars prequels.”

5. Begin using “Obama didn’t win THAT.”

If Your Side Is Losing ...

1. Occupy a Bar Stool

It’s going to be a long four years…

2. Write a letter to Jimmy Carter saying,They are going to be collector’s items one day. “I miss you.”

 

Come back, Jimmy. We miss you and your stories of killer rabbits. Tell us more.

 

3.Start making campaign posters that read “Joe Biden 2016.”

If Biden ga es were worth a dollar each, we would have a surplus right now.

4. Be thankful for the 22nd Amendment.

At least, President Obama can’t get elected to a third presidential term. Unless new Supreme Court Justices Eric Holder and Hilary Clinton make it happen.

5. Bury your wallet.

Enough said.

 

Read the A-List each month by ordering Townhall Magazine.

 

Oscar winner Jon Voight has had a long and illustrious acting career spanning more than five decades. Some of his best-known films include "Midnight Cowboy" (1969), "Deliverence" (1972) and "Coming Home" (1978). The latter role earned him the Academy Award for best actor. Aside from his Oscar victory, Voight also earned Oscar nominations for his roles in "Cowboy," "Runaway Train" (1985) and "Ali" (2001).

Over the last few months, though, Voight has spent much of his time talking politics and supporting former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney bid to become the next president of the United States.

I recently had the privilege to sit down with him. We spoke about the presidential horserace, what it's like being a conversative in Hollywood, as well as some of his personal regrets:

For those interested, Voight is now travelling the country as part of the "Battleground State's Talker's Tour" with hosts Mike Gallagher, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved and Dennis Prager. If you want to come to one of the events, make sure you check out the schedule to see if he's coming to a town near you.

In the December issue of Townhall Magazine-- which you can subscribe to by clicking here -- I wrote about the importance of religion in presidential campaigns. From former President’s Theodore Roosevelt’s failed bid for a third term in 1912 to Senator John Kennedy’s successful bid for the presidency in 1960 to even today, religion has often played an important role on the campaign trail. As I noted in the piece, however, some candidates are treated differently when the subject of religion comes up and a new report- which can be found here -- further supports that theory.

The Media Research Center’s Culture and Media Institute's new report examines the network news' coverage of religion in the GOP primary this year. The report's executive summary notes that the study focuses on "reporting on the GOP candidates and religion from Jan. 1-Oct. 31, 2011, and compared it to coverage of the Democratic presidential primary candidates over the same period in 2007."

Some key findings show how the networks treated the subject differently. For instance, the report's executive summary notes that “ABC, CBS and NBC mentioned GOP candidates’ religion 143 times in the first 10 months of 2011. By contrast, Democratic candidates’ faith was brought up only 19 times in the same period of the 2008 election cycle.”

The summary also noted that in 2007, members of the media seemed to accept the religious values of the liberal candidates without asking a lot of questions. The report added, however, that in 2011, "[t]he networks were nearly 13 times more likely to be critical or challenging of conservative candidates' faith than liberals.'"

On the other hand, when Obama was running for president, the Jeremiah Wright story was often overlooked until some of his sermons became too much to keep under the radar. Even when the media focused on Wright's angry rhetoric, very few stories focused on Obama's specific religious beliefs and what sermons he actually witnessed as a member of Wright's Church. If religious beliefs are so important for candidates in 2011, what accounts for the paucity of such stories during the Democratic primary campaign of 2007?

Hopefully, the MRC’s study will bring more attention to this issue. If religion is an important subject to discuss with conservative candidates, I only wish that the media would treat liberal candidates the same way.

To learn about more the subject of religion in presidential politics, check out my article on the subject on newsstands now or subscribe to Townhall Magazine today by clicking here!

If you haven't seen the "60 Minutes" report on insider corruption in DC, make sure you check it out....

Via Breitbart:

Your comments on the report are welcome....

UPDATE: It looks like Nancy Pelosi was none too pleased about the accusations leveled against her in this report.

She tweeted the following message out to her followers after the report aired: "I was the Speaker the credit card industry feared most--tonight's CBS smear not based on facts: http://t.co/0GWPKulv."

Just when you thought that Hollywood is completely liberal, one of the few known conservatives in Tinseltown recently stepped forward to remind us otherwise. In this case, it's actor/director Clint Eastwood, who recently did an interview with the L.A Times where he talked about his political beliefs.

Some highlights:

Having started voting for GOP presidential contenders in 1952 with Dwight Eisenhower, Eastwood said he was tempted to break ranks only once — in 1992, for Ross Perot. “I liked him,” Eastwood said. “I guess because I like rebels.”...

“...I’m a big hawk on cutting the deficit. I was against the stimulus thing too. We shouldn’t be bailing out the banks and car companies. If a CEO can’t figure out how to make his company profitable, then he shouldn’t be the CEO.”

When it comes to the current crop of Republican presidential candidates, if Eastwood is enthusiastic about anyone, it’s Herman Cain. “I love Cain’s story,” he says. “He’s a guy who came from nowhere and did well, obviously against heavy odds. He’s a doer and a straight-talker, which I don’t see enough of from either party.”.

You can check out the complete interview by clicking here.

Elizabeth Warren, who fought for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while working in the Obama administration, is only a few weeks into her campaign to become the next Senator from Massachusetts and it already feels like she's becoming "Martha Coakley 2.0."

In her latest blunder, Warren noted how her campaign is aiming to receive the "hick vote" in the state. Politico.com reported that she talked about such a constituency during a recent podcast. After the podcast host talked about being called a hick himself and Warren's own background, Politico quoted Warren as saying the following: :

WARREN: “I’m going for the hick vote here, I just want you to know. Maybe we could start wearing stickers that say ‘Hicks for Elizabeth’ – could we do that?”

Doesn't this kind of elitist language sound familiar?

In her bid against Scott Brown in 2010, State Attorney General Martha Coakley often sounded condescending as well. For instance, in January of 2010, the Boston Globe quoted Coakley disparaging the act of shaking hands with voters outside of Fenway Park.  Brown, who went on to win that election, had spent some of his time shaking hands, something that Coakley seemingly looked down on.

Now. by looking down at some voters and calling them "hicks," it looks like Warren might be becoming the next Martha Coakley.

That's definitely good news for Scott Brown fans.

Katie Pavlich recently wrote a blog about a 47-year-old man who openly heckled and harassed Bristol Palin in a bar. It's been a few days since the incident transpired and the man in question has now apologized for his disrespectful behavior.

From Reuters.com:

The man who lambasted Bristol Palin at a West Hollywood watering hole last week has apologized for the incident, calling his behavior "improper."

He has also received a number of threats since the incident occurred, according to his attorney.

In a statement furnished to TheWrap by his attorney, Stephen Hanks -- who, among other things, called Palin's mother, former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin "a whore" -- says that, while he's still not a big fan of Bristol's mother, it was wrong to take out his anger on Bristol.

"Having had an opportunity to view the camera footage of the incident this past Thursday at the Saddle Ranch Bar & Chop House in West Hollywood, and having reflected on the incident over the weekend, I have come to the conclusion that no matter what my feelings are toward Sarah Palin, I should not have expressed them toward her daughter, Bristol Palin."

It's good to see that this heckler has finally apologized. Although I don't endorse the threats that he has received,this man was disrespectful and clearly out of line.

Although I'm not a fan of confrontation, I think Bristol's standing up for her mom is part of the reason why this story has received as much attention as it has. She was willing to stand up for her mother and now, this man has finally backed away from his vulgar language and his angry rhetoric.