After 10 Glorious Years, Sunshine State News and I Are Passing the Baton

Liberals just aren't very liberal these days. The word "liberal" comes from the Latin word meaning freedom, and in the 19th century, liberals in this country and abroad stood for free speech, free exercise of religion, free markets, free trade -- for minimal state interference in people's lives.

"The heartlessness and nativist pandering that have broken America's immigration system must give way to providing proper food, clothing, shelter and medical care to the Central American children streaming into the country." So pronounced the editors of the New York Daily News. Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. echoed the theme in his "Bordering on Heartless" column, noting that Glenn Beck has "come under fierce attack" for his proposal to bring food, water, teddy bears and soccer balls to the children stuck at the border. "It's one more sign," Dionne writes, "of how the crisis at the border has brought out the very worst in our political system and a degree of plain nastiness that we should not be proud of as a nation."

In 1978, Sen. Phil Lewis, D-West Palm Beach, took office as Senate president. The very first appointment President Lewis announced was to make his opponent for the presidency, Sen. Jack Gordon, D-Miami Beach, the important chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

One question I am asked while on tour for my new book, "The Greatest Comeback," on the resurrection of Richard Nixon, is:Does Nixon's rise, from crushing defeats in 1960 and 1962, and the debacle his party suffered in 1964, to capturing the White House and beginning a string of five victories in six presidential elections, have relevance for today's GOP?