Michael R. Shannon's Past Articles
215 articles
Michael Shannon CPAC Report Day 2
published: February 13, 2012
Friday at CPAC began with a kickoff address by former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Those of you that felt Huckabee was looking a bit gaunt after his 110–pound w...
Michael Shannon CPAC Report Day 1
published: February 13, 2012
The 39th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) conference kicked off today with a prayer long enough to be listed on the program. Which is an important consideration in a conferenc...
Occupying the Lunatic Fringe
published: February 03, 2012
Recently outraged Internet theologians took umbrage at my refusal to join the effort to transform Jesus into a big government, liberal Democrat that supports the Occupy squatters. Most echoed secu...
A Grope A Day Keeps Osama Away
published: January 29, 2012
Sen. Rand Paul (R–KY) made the news Monday when he declined to get up close and personal with TSA guards at the Nashville, TN airport. Paul entered the security line; dumped his belt, glasses...
Conservatives Get Stupid, Again
published: January 23, 2012
What a let down. Here conservative Republicans were so close to respectability and even acceptance in polite society. In Prince William County, VA where I live, conservatives convinced themselves ...
Republicans Attempt to Change a Light Bulb
published: January 13, 2012
I don’t know precisely how many Republicans it takes to change a light bulb, but I can tell you that 289 are evidently not enough. That’s how many Republicans are in the House and Senat...
Republicans ARE Discouraging Voter Turnout
published: January 08, 2012
It’s a dream come true for hysterical liberals and their fellow travelers in the ‘unbiased’ media. Pesky Republicans ARE actively working to discourage voter turnout in the 2012 P...
Democrats Regulating the Dead
published: December 31, 2011
Personal preferences are a reliable method of distinguishing between conservatives and Democrats. Conservatives believe personal preferences are just that: personal and particular to the individual...
Liberals Love Monopoly Taxis
published: December 25, 2011
Many DC–area residents have a taxi story. Few have happy endings. Mine occurred on a very rainy day at Union Station. I’d been shuffling along in an endless taxi line when my turn final...
Playing Santa on Our Dime
published: December 11, 2011
One does not have to go to Washington to become an out–of–touch politician and it’s not required to be a Democrat. Local Republicans can lose their way quite nicely without all th...
Frankly Barney, You Won’t Be Missed
published: December 04, 2011
When I learned Cong. Barney Frank (D–Libertine) was retiring after 30 years in the House, my first thought was don’t let the door hit you in the behind. That’s because Frank perso...
Pepper Spray – A little dab’ll do ya
published: November 27, 2011
During this holiday season it’s very difficult to determine the socially acceptable method for serving pepper spray to ‘progressive’ class warriors on the front lines of aimless p...
The Light Governor Gains Heft
published: November 17, 2011
The bad old volcano days are but a distant memory for Lt. Governor Bill Bolling. That’s when he was trapped in Florence Italy for almost a week during April 2010. European air travel was canc...
The KinderCare Generation
published: November 13, 2011
For those in two–income households who have been wondering what the long–term effects of parking children in daycare would be, the results are in and the news is not good. Quite a few ...
Imagine. No Religion, too.
published: November 08, 2011
There’s a woman who lives near me with a personalized license plate that proclaims she’s a WICCAN. If her idea of theology is a penetrating discussion with a pecan tree and she wants to...
Jesus, the Liberal Democrat
published: October 30, 2011
It’s tough enough trying to be a Christian in this secular world without taking misleading doctrinal advice from non–believers who deny the divinity of Christ. But some Christians obvi...
The Qwikster Joins the Dead
published: October 16, 2011
I’ve been wondering how many of the Occupy Wall Street squatters are actually enraged Netflix subscribers or retirees with Netflix stock in the 401K? The timing is about right. In August Net...
This Toll Tolls for You
published: October 09, 2011
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s successful effort to open the rest stops on I–95 was a very good idea. His current effort to open tollbooths on I–95 is not. McDonnell obviously...
Gov. Perry, Welcome to Your Past
published: October 03, 2011
During my misspent youth, I was a Democrat. Consequently, when I started my political consulting firm I wanted to be true to my mistaken convictions, so I only worked for Democrat clients. [Note: ...
A “Safe” & “Legal” Procedure That’s Always Fatal
published: September 25, 2011
Here we go again, a bunch of fanatics disrupt a public hearing screaming “safe” and “legal” in an obvious effort to block sensible, long overdue regulations that protect hea...
The ‘Save Obama’s Job’ bill
published: September 18, 2011
Obama’s “jobs” speech was historic in one way: It was the first completely ‘green’ address to Congress. Every so–called idea in the speech was recycled from the ...
When Dry–Cleaning Attacks
published: September 09, 2011
The pre–Labor Day holiday run up was a good week for stating the obvious in the Washington Post. An area high school student, who shall remain nameless, concluded that outsourcing her scienc...
Why some are more ‘illegal’ than others
published: September 03, 2011
Forty years ago he stepped across an imaginary line to make his home in Maryland. He married, worked hard, raised a family, sent his children to public school, paid taxes, saw one wife die of cance...
Note to Post: Cover Katie Perry, not Rick
published: August 27, 2011
Republicans won’t know for months how seriously voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will take the presidential candidacy of Gov. Rick Perry (R–TX), but right now the Washington Post takes ...
A New Media Slant Detector
published: August 19, 2011
I formerly believed reporters don’t tell the public what to think. Instead, they tell the public what to think about — as if that made claiming “objectivity” while misusing ...
Michael R. Shannon
Virginia-based public relations and media consultant with MANDATE: Message, Media & Public Relations who has worked in over 75 elections on three continents and a handful of islands. Michael’s columns have appeared on his own News & Messenger site and AmericaSpeakOn. The Tampa Trib has published some of his columns, as has Black Velvet Bruce Li. He was an editorial writer and columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and has been in politics and journalism since 1972.
action items!
The Tennessee Republican Assembly Joins Resolution Against Sen Alexander's National Internet Sales Tax Mandate
03 31, 2013
Republican Leaders in Pennsylvania Hold the Key to School Choice Reform
05 29, 2011
Tell Your Representative to Vote YES on H.R. 1229 Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act
05 29, 2011
Stop The Internet Sales Tax
05 13, 2011
Ask Sen. McConnell to Appoint Sen. DeMint to Senate Finance Committee
05 13, 2011
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