Articles by Mary Lyon
Mary Lyon is a veteran broadcaster and five-time Golden Mike Award winner, who has anchored, reported, and written for the Associated Press Radio Network, NBC Radio "The Source," and many Los Angeles-area stations including KRTH-FM/AM, KLOS-FM, KFWB-AM, and KTLA-TV, and occasional media analyst for ABC Radio News. She began her career as a liberal activist with the Student Coalition for Humphrey/Muskie in 1968, and helped spearhead a regional campaign, "The Power 18," to win the right to vote for 18-year-olds. She remains an advocate for liberal causes, responsibility and accountability in media, environmental education and support of the arts for children, and green living. In addition to The Northeast Democrat, Mary writes for OpEdNews, Democrats.us, World News Trust, and WeDemocrats.org's "We! The People" webzine. Mary is also a parenting expert, having written and illustrated the book "The Frazzled Working Woman's Practical Guide to Motherhood."
Joe Wilson may not necessarily be the Evil Twin of Plame’s husband. But he indeed is the newly crowned, self-appointed hero of the politically deranged.
Leave it to President Obama to wrap up his speech about health care reform in a brief examination of the American character. True. For the love of God, somebody has to say something. Obama, however, did not see America the Mean.
Maybe I came to revere Ted Kennedy’s work all the more because unlike his brothers, he had time and many years to make a difference, large and small, and a terrific and powerful podium from which to do so. He never hesitated to use his stature or gifts for good, to help somebody.
Happy Independence Day, on the eve of which we’ve been reminded that we are FAR from declaring our national independence from the Sarah Palin addiction.
After watching her rambling, disjointed “W-T-F Moment” as she announced she’s …
Arlen Specter?!?!?! The first time I blurted that out was during an industry screening of Oliver Stone’s “JFK”, in which his name came up in connection with the rogue “magic bullet” issue. I just had …
Like it or not, knuckle-draggers: Science is back IN.
As a life-long Catholic, I couldn’t be more delighted. I’m sure the airwaves and the cable channels will soon be wall-to-wall with conservatives and Republicans and other …
Feels like it’s still the best of times and the worst of times. If the night of President Obama’s first major speech to a joint session of Congress proved anything, it confirmed that America chose …
“I screwed up.”
Sounds like a simple, ordinary, and harmless little thing to admit, unless of course you’re the President of the United States. We haven’t heard the likes of this in at least eight years. …
This is a heckuva hangover. More than just the sun dawned on me on the morning after Obama Day. I realized as I woke up following the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President …
Mr. Bush, you shouldn’t have bothered. It wouldn’t have mattered what you said on your last Thursday evening as White House occupant. I’m sure many Americans did tune in out of curiosity as to how …
There! I said it.
Yes. I know embattled and ethically – well, um – relaxed Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has no business in the U.S. Senate. There’s more than a fair amount of people who quite …
Third time’s a charm, maybe?
I’ve compiled three of these lists now. In 2006, I issued the first one, looking back on everything George W. Bush has adversely affected since he first arrived in the Oval …
Maybe we were just behind schedule. Could it be that we simply got a late start launching the REAL New American Century?
There is an argument to be made that THIS, NOW, is the new and …
The piece of film that just made the biggest impression on me on this particular night, when Barack Obama aired his half-hour TV special, was not anything Obama presented. It was the sour grapes John …
How much do I not like John McCain now, because of this final debate in Campaign 2008? Let me count the ways – which, at this point, number far greater than the components of a …
Dear Senator McCain,
One way or another, you reach an end on November 4th. We do know that for certain, even though no one can say what kind of end it will be – whether the …
I was going to start out by calling the second Presidential Candidates’ Debate between Barack Obama and John McCain a “running out the clock” affair for Obama. Basically a draw – no big wins or …
I had help with this one. I watched Joe Biden and Sarah Palin square off, on CNN, specifically for that network’s audience meters. In this case, it was a group of undecided voters in Ohio, …
I’m mixed.
Who won? They both did. And didn’t.
Here’s what strikes me about the opening round of presidential debate season: the one-liners, the facts (or not), the jabs, the international names and one mispronunciation, the energy, …
by Mary Lyon –
Amazing what a difference a week makes.
Something has changed since Sarah Palin burst into the Republican Convention and started living it up by the stiletto. It still stings to look back over …
By Mary Lyon –
Dear Senator McCain: Well, gee, look at you, ‘eh? Have we finally met the “kinder, gentler” Republican that Republicans have been teasing us with for 20 years now? And why is my …
I sat through Rudy Giuliani and the debut of Sarah Palin – and I’ve come to only one conclusion. Republicans are mean. No whining here. I’m no Phil Gramm. Just an objective statement of fact …
One certainly can’t say that the Republican Convention doesn’t bring divergent individuals together. Sometimes, they’re the strangest of strange convention bedfellows.
The Look-Before-You-Leap presidential campaign is at it again: “Do as I say, not as I do.” It amuses and confuses me as I watch the Republican Party writhe and wriggle around in the mud. It’s …
Where is Lloyd Bentsen when we need him? The distinguished Texas Democratic Senator, who died two years ago, probably would be rolling over in his grave to see what’s happening now. More than actually rolling …
A signature Stevie Wonder hit struck the perfect introductory note for this historic evening: “Signed Sealed and Delivered.” And we were. So was Barack Obama.
An awful lot of childish behavior has been on parade on the campaign trail this year. Well, yeah, pretty much every campaign season we see that, but this year has seemed even more juvenile than …
All the blue and white “Unity” signs didn’t make nearly as vivid an impression as did the Lady in Gold on Night Number Two in Denver. Hillary Clinton Night at the Democratic Convention was actually …
by Mary Lyon –
What a great opening night! And what an historic journey the Democratic National Convention highlighted in its kickoff. It was a night of Great Democratic Bookends.
by Mary Lyon –
Joe Biden is already a pretty effective giant-killer, and he may just have killed another giant – a giant bummer among Democratic partisans concerned about the backbone of their party. Biden’s the …
It’s amazing how much mud is flying in this presidential contest – and not just that which is being flung nonstop at Barack Obama. Mudslinging is common during political campaigns, but sometimes that mud isn’t …
It would be one thing if John Edwards’ big boo-boo stood alone. But it isn’t working out that way.
Enough by now has been written about the bimbo eruption itself, the charismatic married Democrat and the …
Hey, I realize John McCain has a thing for young blondes, but this is ridiculous. To watch his ad campaign over the past week or so has been painful, whether or not you support Barack …
Dear Messers O’Reilly, Hannity, and Savage,
Congratulations. You sure did it this time. You’re the New Century answer to J.D. Salinger, now that an admirer/acolyte of yours has gunned down two people and injured several …
By Mary Lyon —
Is John McCain in a meltdown? Can this campaign be saved? Can the dots remain unconnected? I don’t know about the first two, other than just observing from the sidelines. But …
By Mary Lyon —
“Outside of basic intelligence, there is nothing more important to a good political cartoonist than ill will.” –Jules Pfeiffer
I’ve been watching a parade of slapstick worthy of the Keystone Kops lately, but it’s not on Vintage Movie Night — it’s in Washington DC. Hapless doesn’t even begin to describe it.
I guess this is proof, after a fashion, that the war has indeed followed us home. Some of our leading veterans-turned-political-warriors, from John McCain to Wesley Clark and Jim Webb, and even a fresh-outta-mothballs Swiftboater …
I’ve heard of rooting for the bad guys, but this is ridiculous. John McCain’s elite advisor Charlie Black opined to Fortune magazine that if there were another terrorist strike against our country in time for …
Now we know Barack Obama is the heir. Al Gore has now stepped forward to give his endorsement. It was not, however, quite the triumphant return to the political stage that I had hoped to …
I would never have thought there’d be any greater crimes than those of George W. Bush, nor any villain greater. I’m wrong. And no, it’s not Dick Cheney, either, or anything he’s perpetrated. Nor any …
I woke up one morning feeling like I’d awakened in a different country. Sort of. Barack Obama’s passing the numerical finish line was still not quite the end of the Democratic primary season. “She” had …
Scott McClellan’s new confessional that’s pointed the finger at Bush administration figures in the Valerie Plame scandal reminds me of something my husband got in the mail, in the autumn of 1983. We called it …
Yes. I heard it. But Hillary Clinton’s only one of the most recent public figures to bring up that dirty little unmentionable in American political history. She inferred, more than once, that she, in effect, …
Jackie Kennedy planted that seed, sadly, after the fact, when talking with writer Theodore H. White – in a quest to characterize her late husband’s White House years – casting them in some larger, grander, …
Ever since this campaign downshifted into high gear, I’ve been wishing it was like some sort of Time Traveler’s Checkerboard. If we could plug some dynamics of this year into 2000, or 2004, imagine how …
So let’s see now. We’ve had the flag pins, the “bitter” bit, some moldy-oldie urban guerrilla nobody ever heard of, and now, the rather large, open, and self-involved mouth of Pastor Jeremiah Wright. And THAT …
After watching Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama slug it out and beat each other up, there is one name that shines for me and still gives me hope. It’s neither of the above. It’s Howard …
A one-sentence comment posted in the blogosphere really nails it. As the political hissy-fit over Barack Obama’s “bitter” remarks continues to heave itself on the floor like some three-year-old tantrum-thrower in the canned soup aisle …
Petraeus has spoken again. And somehow I feel like I did listening over the years to friends of mine whose dreams were just sure to come true someday, and whose ships were just bound to …
Erich Segal, the author of “Love Story,” once put the phrase “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” into the official collection of favorite American catch-phrases. Up until very recently, we’ve had to suffer …
This campaign has me feeling as though I’m totally schitzo. I’m a two-headed monster. No – double that. It’s not merely Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sitting on my shoulders, battling each other for my …
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