My conservative friend was, as usual, blunt. 

"Mr. Deming, do you find President Obama to be a man of his word who governs with integrity and without misdirection and outright lies?"

It seemed a shame to avoid such a direct question from such a good friend. So I invited him for a quiet stroll through the record.

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News reports, analysts, and pundits flooded networks and print media with accounts of the Romney interview. It was big news.

The most significant item was mentioned in the interview, but was lost in the covereage.

It was overridden by the hot, hot question raised by the interview. Will Mitt run again?

News focuses on the unusual. In another era, the confession would have dominated. Today, it is scarcely worth mentioning.

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The unraveling of the Secret Service protection of President Obama is a scary thing for those of us who remember the most painful moments of the 1960s, or the near murder of another President almost 20 years later. It now appears that two demented individuals came very close to repeating searing events, not while our President was on a sidewalk or in an automobile. They both came closer than we knew at the time, both violating the People's House. The White House is where the President and his family live, where the first couple sleep at night, where their children have played while growing up.

Gunshots have broken a window in the family living quarters. A man carry a knife came very near. Had the first family been delayed even a few minutes in leaving on a trip, and had the intruder turned left instead of right at a critical juncture, tragedy might have struck again.

In a literal sense, it hits close to home.

Most of us remember the moment we first became aware the nation was under attack.

Rescue workers at a Pentagon day care center worked frantically, trying to evacuate infants quickly, wondering how soon the next plane would hit. They cheered as two American fighter jets flew low overhead.

They had no idea that one of those planes was piloted by a young woman who had prepared for what looked like a suicide mission.

If that fact had been reported then, would anyone have laughed at the idea of a woman pilot?

The Georgia state unemployment rate has jumped way up to 8.1 percent. That's according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in a routine list published on September 19, 2014. That's the highest unemployment rate in the nation. It's higher than Mississippi, which had been the state with the highest rate until they got bumped by Georgia.

Governor Nathan Deal hates being blamed for the highest unemployment in the nation. He suggests an alternate explanation. Maybe there is a conspiracy by the folks who put together unemplyment statistics.

It's hard to say just what conspiracy Governor Deal has in mind. He's only pointing out "some influence here that we don't know about." He seems a little indignant about it.

Except, uh-oh, his conspiracy theory was undermined by his own administration.

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It's the sort of thing that surfaces about every other week from regionally prominent Republicans. It represents a large proportion of a shrinking party.

Referring to people as anything other than human, with human feelings, with human worth, is wrong. It is wrong when the target is a black, or gay, or immigrant. The fact that this was not as widely recognized 60 years ago does not make it any more right.

Such ways of of talking and thinking come from those who are so used to the reinforcement of those of like mind, some political figures imagine the policies they espouse, and the terms they use to describe their own thoughts, will find the same approval from the general public.

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104 former Republican office holders have joined to oppose the election of Republican governor Sam Brownback.

Republican Senator Pat Roberts might squeak by to re-election with a fraction of the vote, if Republicans can get opponents to divide between two other candidates.

But Republicans have nothing to worry about. After this election, Kansas voters will always stay Republican. Really, they will.

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Voting restrictions are needed to prevent voter fraud, that's all. That's how conservatives justify the new voting changes. But election stealing always happens in backrooms, away from voters. Ballot stuffing, changing total, are what will work for dishonest politicians. Fraud by voters involves too many people. It's too easy to get caught. The penalties are harsh. And it doesn't work. The backroom stuff is what works.

But conservatives keep insisting they just want to prevent fraud. Keeping large numbers of legitimate voters from voting is just the sad price that must be paid. It certainly isn't the reason for making voting harder. That's what they say... except when they slip up and say in public what they are really trying to do.

For example, this case in Georgia...

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The literary storm that followed an unfortunate book review in the Economist magazine has been a combination of outrage and rage. The review was critical of a book by Edward Baptist about slavery. The reviewer presented the case that the book lacked balance, neglecting to present the case in favor of slavery.

The Economist withdrew the piece. The recantation contained the review itself as a gesture toward transparency. It served as an allocution of sorts: an acknowledgment of the facts as part of an admission of guilt.

The controversy brought to mind the lessons of my youth and a larger message about history itself. The reasons we were taught what we were taught can teach us more now than we could ever have learned then.

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Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) has been attacked, among other reasons, for no longer being a resident of Kansas. His declared residence turns out to be the home of supporters in Dodge City. He pays them rent.

As a voter, I'm okay with facing reality. Maintaining a full time residence here in Missouri while attending to a full time job in Washington is an untenable requirement. My bet is I'd feel the same way if I lived next door in Kansas.

But the insistence that our Representatives must work for us in Washington but can't live there continues. It doesn't happen every election season. Just enough to be an irritant.

I thought again it all again as I read about another scandal brewing in Maryland. The state gives tax breaks to residents. Tax officials are investigating whether a public official committed a crime by claiming to be a full time resident.

Now I have to rethink whether the Housing deal should always be a non-issue.

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