Tag: 21st Century Cures Act

Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander, who announced this week that he will retire when his term is up in 2020, is one veteran politician who won’t have to die to get a positive story written about him. Bush administration, president of the University of Tennessee and three-term U.S. senator from Tennessee. His eight years as governor and 18 years as senator will make him the longest serving governor and senator in Tennessee history. As chairman of the important Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Alexander built a distinguished record. I came of age at a time when you called them as you saw them: A politician did something wrong, you reported it; a politician did something right, you reported that, too. With today’s media over-emphasis on the bad, and the eagerness to stoke and trumpet partisan rancor, it is little wonder that most Americans think all politicians are bums. But at the same time, public trust in the news media is nothing to brag about: An October Gallup Poll found just 45 percent of Americans trust the news media to report fully, fairly and accurately. Having covered Alexander from when he was governor through his early years in the Senate, I gave him a phone call when I heard he would not seek re-election in 2020. That, he said, would take away from the important work he still has to do in the Senate. So, he decided to forego another run.