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 to 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 my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as 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.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

Late night host Stephen Colbert had a quote for the ages the other day.

His topic?  The ultimate stupidity of Rudy Giuliani as he accused a person in a grocery store of assaulting him. 

The assault?  A tap on the shoulder.

Fodder for Colbert?  Of course.

Here is what he said:

“Rudy remains undaunted.  His son, Andrew, and his load-bearing teeth say we don’t have to worry about Rudy because he’s ‘tough as nails.’  And, just like nails, he’s always hammered.”

If nothing else – and there is loads more – Giulani’s conduct (Rudy, not Andrew) calls to mind other recent acts of stupidity.  Such as when went to a “Four Seasons” – it was an old garage, not the first-class hotel – to hold a press conference touting what he uttered as “fact” — that Donald Trump had won the presidency.

He did so as black hair dye rolled down his cheeks. 

So, it is not hard to argue, with Colbert, that “Rudy was hammered.”