PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.

It is hard to keep the department closed given all the good quotes lately.

So, without apology – which is something I never have to do as the supreme director – here is another list of good quotes worth remembering.

From political comedian Bill Maher:  “Trump is not becoming more hinged.”

Comment: It is hard for me to agree with Maher as he repeatedly skewers everybody who has the temerity, like me, to espouse conservative views from time to time — albeit centrist conservative views for me. Still, Maher sometimes says something worth remembering, as he did this time.

From one of my favorite Wall Street Journal columnists, Daniel Henninger:  “Whatever once fastened the doors of people’s minds to something secure and stable has become unhinged.”

Comment: There’s that word again – hinged or, in this case, unhinged. Henninger has it right that, in today’s political environment, it is becoming more and more difficult to attach your mind to something secure and stable. My only retort is that it is possible to attach yourself to personal religious convictions. For me, that is being a Christian which sustains me every day.

From law professor Kenneth Starr as new Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch prepared for a ceremony officially to take his seat on the Court:  “At his confirmation hearing, Gorsuch called Scalia (Antonin Scalia, whom he replaced) a mentor who reminded us that words matter — a judge’s job is to follow the words that ARE the law, not replace them with those that aren’t.”

From letters to the editor columns in the Wall Street Journal, under this headline…Civil Politicians Are a Lot Less Attractive to the Media; the lack of civility described in politics is fed by the media, and leadership from the media is needed as much as from the politicians:

In the letters from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and Stamford, Connecticut, these words:

“The lack of civility described in “Civil Discourse in Decline: Where Does It End?” (Capital Journal, May 30) is fed by the media, and leadership from the media is needed as much as from the politicians, who merely see what the media wants and play to it. This is hardly something new. Since the years of William Randolph Hearst and Henry Luce, media attract the demagogues they need for sensationalism and sales. If a leader actually tried to push civility, what media outlet would report such boring news?

“Once a measure of acceptable behavior was how one would feel if it was printed in the headlines in the local newspaper. We seem to be well beyond that.”

Comment: The letter writers have it right. The media often foments more controversy as it focuses on that – and not on substance. Ever wonder why those who demonstrate or protest get their faces and signs on television? It’s because editors believe that draws audiences. I say enough. Just as we need reasoned and reasonable people in public office, we need editors who act in reasoned and reasonable ways in what they choose to cover.