John F. Kennedy, before he became President, wrote a widely acclaimed book, Profiles in Courage. In the book, Kennedy profiled eight U.S. senators, describing acts of bravery and integrity.
I watched last week as the Senate moved ahead with the second impeachment trial of former POTUS Trump. And as far as the Republicans in the Senate are concerned, if Kennedy tried to write a similar book today he would be hard pressed to fill an abbreviated Cliffs Notes.
Clearly, there wasn’t much bravery or integrity on display in the Senate chamber last week as 43 Republicans voted to acquit — and then many, including Moscow Mitch, took to the airwaves or social media to proclaim that yes Trump was responsible and should be held accountable.
Ah, can’t have it both ways, dudes. I digress.
Anyway, it appears that Trump’s defense and the Republican position came down to pretty much this:
Okay. Maybe a more detailed explanation is in order.
So it goes.
Like I said, the update to Kennedy’s book will be titled, Profiles in Cowardice.
And for the leaders of the Republican Party, I guess in this case their strategy did pay off, as predicted by another author, George Orwell, in his book, 1984.
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Rob Jewell
I’m Rob Jewell and I live and write in Woodland Park, Colorado, the City Above the Clouds.
I've been fortunate. I worked for 29 years at BFGoodrich in Akron, Ohio. I started editing employee publications and ended as vice president of corporate communications. Then I started a public relations consulting company before becoming a full-time faculty member in the School of Journalism at Kent State University. I taught courses in writing, public relations and mass communication ethics. And I supervised a student-run public relations firm, called Flash Communications. During my tenure at Kent State I was honored to receive the university’s Outstanding Teaching Award.
During most of this time I've been a dedicated runner. OK, jogger, if you take speed into consideration. But while my times are not much to write about, I was and am committed. For almost 30 years I ran at least 1,000 miles each year. (Except for one year when I tore my calf muscle playing tennis. So much for tennis.)
Being on the road most mornings at 5 a.m. gave me some time to think. It also led to some amazing friendships that now span more than three decades.
And my longtime love affair with running helped me shape my first novel, Then We Ran, which is available wherever electronic books are sold.
And just so you don't think that all I did was work and run, I have other interests as well, many centering on family.
My wife, Mary, was a successful and highly regarded career teacher in the Akron public schools. She now devotes her time and energy to a host of social and athletic activities in Woodland Park.
My son, Brian, teaches at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs where he is also the head soccer coach.
And my daughter, Jessica, has completed her doctorate at Kent State University where she is also an administrator with the Wick Poetry Center. I've done a lot of writing during my career -- but Jessica is the real writer in the family. I'll try not to make too many errors in this blog. I'm sure she'll be watching.
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Writing Above The Clouds 