Mary Jo Melone, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mary Jo MeloneJune 23, 2016

Social etiquette requires that I not speak ill of the dead, but when the dead man was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice — namely, Antonin Scalia — speaking ill (civilly, although that is not in fashion) is an absolute necessity. Especially now. After Orlando. Scalia defended criminalizing gay sex because many people don’t like gays. […]

Mary Jo MeloneJune 16, 2016

Driving I-4 through Orlando, you see them. The billboards proclaim what is now ho-hum in this country. #OrlandoStrong #LoveOrlando #PrayforOrlando Add this to the list, please. #AmericaSickandTired Have you noticed the phrase “take him out” is now part of our everyday language? We are accustomed to terms like “SWAT team,” “active shooter,” “on lockdown,” “armored […]

Mary Jo MeloneJune 9, 2016

In a time long, long ago — in the late 70s and early 80s — and in a land far, far away — Philadelphia — I was a radio journalist. This was so strange a time that AM radio counted. Stranger still, if you spun the dial (this was still possible), you didn’t hear much […]

Mary Jo MeloneJune 2, 2016

The coals in the backyard grill are cold, and the beer cans have been recycled. The patriotic songs are over, and the hyper-inflated political speeches are done. Memorial Day has passed. There is no more contradictory day on the calendar, no day when so much oratorical fiction replaces those disturbances called facts. Here’s what we […]

Mary Jo MeloneMay 26, 2016

Like Donald Trump’s narcissism, the misogyny driving the vitriol aimed at Hillary Clinton is bottomless. The best that can be said of the legions of her critics is that some, women among them, don’t know history. Worse yet, few who are puzzled by the vitriol directed at Clinton bother to see her through the lens […]

Mary Jo MeloneMay 19, 2016

The book “Writing News for Broadcast,” published in 1971, taught me how to write. Avoid adjectives. Use the details that reveal, and that means not many. Sharpen your language, or delete it. Don’t write to be clever or to impress. Be clear. Be humane. Have empathy. Have an ear for language. Morley Safer, who retired […]

Mary Jo MeloneMay 12, 2016

Reporters call what Mac Stipanovich did in his stay-home-or-vote-for-Hillary column a case of burying the lede. In this case, the lede was buried so deep, it was good as underwater. The May 4 Context Florida column, in which Stipanovich begged GOP voters to reject Donald Trump, contained 14 paragraphs. The most important sentence was in […]

Mary Jo Melone

Mary Jo Melone: What a guy — Antonin Scalia on hate, guns and gridlock

Mary Jo Melone: Not a column; a plea for Orlando

Mary Jo Melone: A deep, deep discount, but no bargain

Mary Jo Melone: A day for forgetting

Mary Jo Melone: Hillary Clinton, without apology

Mary Jo Melone: Morley Safer and me

Mary Jo Melone: If you renounce Donald Trump, you disown what the GOP stands for