Some people seem to think it's a smart move for the enfant terrible of the Tea Party, Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, to quit the Senate and take the helm at the Heritage Foundation. The thinking seems to be it will give him a platform to be an even bigger enforcer of conservative purity than he can be in the Senate, where he rubs many of his colleagues the wrong way. Look at what Grover Norquist has been able to do outside public office.
Perhaps, but my take is different. I see little else but a cut and run. DeMint doesn't like the prospect of being in the minority without any of the privileges and power of a committee chairmanship. He does like the prospect of making a million dollars-plus. It's hard to see this as anything other than a sell-out. Ultimately, a senator has power that is very real. There are only a hundred of them and they make the laws, they shape the laws and they exert their influence in a myriad of ways because they can do that. It's not something to give up lightly.
To me it's a signal that DeMint realizes the game is lost. He is just the first rat off the sinking ship. It is the country's gain.
Friday, December 7, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
More scary Romney bubble
It turns out Romney wasn't the only one who was shocked, shocked that Obama won. According to Chrystia Freeland in conversation with Ezra Klein, many of his fellow plutocrats who supported him were equally shocked.
Chrystia Freeland: There’s a great joke on Wall Street which is that the bet on Romney is Wall Street’s worst bet since the bet on subprime. But I found the hostility towards Obama astonishing. I found the commitment to getting him out astonishing. I found the absolute confidence that it would work astonishing. On that Tuesday, the big Romney backers I was talking to were sure he was going to win. They were all flying into Logan Airport for the victory party. There’s this stunned feeling of how could we be so wrong, and a feeling of alienation.The Romney comments to his donors, for which he was roundly pounced on by Republican politicians, I think they accurately reflected the view of a lot of these money guys. It’s the continuation of this 47 percent idea. They believe that Obama has been shoring up the entitlement society, and if you give enough entitlements to enough people, they’ll vote for you.
Lost week
Thanksgiving fell on the earliest date possible this year because Nov. 1 was a Thursday so the fourth Thursday was only three weeks into the month. Normally the holiday falls in the last week of November and the whole week is off limits for scheduling any meetings or conferences or interviews.
But this year, there was a full week in November after Thanksgiving week. My calendar, however, is blank, and I think it's because people never really put two and two together to realize they could schedule events without the holiday interfering. The week kind of got lost in the shuffle.
But this year, there was a full week in November after Thanksgiving week. My calendar, however, is blank, and I think it's because people never really put two and two together to realize they could schedule events without the holiday interfering. The week kind of got lost in the shuffle.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Talking heads
I'm almost saturated with MSNBC for this campaign cycle and still watch it only for the long denouement. What bothered me yesterday was their willingness to equate talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly with Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio as spokesmen for the Republican Party.
Limbaugh for sure, and I suspect O'Reilly as well, are simply entertainers -- cynical entertainers -- who spin their foul ideas simply to make money. They are equivalent to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who at least admit they're comedians, not to elected public officials. It may be true that politicians quiver in their shoes at the prospect of Limbaugh or O'Reilly banishing them from the circle of acceptable conservatism, but until someone with enough courage to call their bluff finally prevails, they will continue to have real power of censorship.
The most ridiculous statement of the week, though, obviously belongs to Marco Rubio, dodging a question about the earth's age by saying I'm not a scientist, man. This is a dispute for "theologians," a "mystery" we may never know the answer to. Patent nonsense. I was suspending judgment on Rubio, but no more. He is dishonest and hypocritical in this response and now I tend to believe he deliberately burnished the false history of his parents' flight from Cuba. Hopefully his lies will catch up with him before he becomes a serious candidate for president.
Limbaugh for sure, and I suspect O'Reilly as well, are simply entertainers -- cynical entertainers -- who spin their foul ideas simply to make money. They are equivalent to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who at least admit they're comedians, not to elected public officials. It may be true that politicians quiver in their shoes at the prospect of Limbaugh or O'Reilly banishing them from the circle of acceptable conservatism, but until someone with enough courage to call their bluff finally prevails, they will continue to have real power of censorship.
The most ridiculous statement of the week, though, obviously belongs to Marco Rubio, dodging a question about the earth's age by saying I'm not a scientist, man. This is a dispute for "theologians," a "mystery" we may never know the answer to. Patent nonsense. I was suspending judgment on Rubio, but no more. He is dishonest and hypocritical in this response and now I tend to believe he deliberately burnished the false history of his parents' flight from Cuba. Hopefully his lies will catch up with him before he becomes a serious candidate for president.
Monday, November 12, 2012
The Petraeus Affair
Robert Ludlum could hardly come up with a better title. It's no surprise that someone with Petraeus's drive and ego, separated from his wife for long periods, would have an affair. That Broadwell's subsequent biography, most commonly described as "fawning," would be a bestseller is just par for the course in our uncritical media and publishing world.
The most interesting factoid to emerge is that Petraeus's wife, Holly, was the daughter of the general who headed West Point when Petraeus was a cadet there. What better way to fast-track a military career, cynics might ask.
National security is not my bailiwick, but it seems clear there's more here than meets the eye. I've never been a fan of Petraeus, who seemed like a relentless self-promoter who was at times disloyal to his commander in chief. The only justification for Obama appointing this Republican general to a sensitive administration post is to keep your enemies nearer. At least this whole brouhaha distracts from the endless media dribble about the fiscal cliff.
The most interesting factoid to emerge is that Petraeus's wife, Holly, was the daughter of the general who headed West Point when Petraeus was a cadet there. What better way to fast-track a military career, cynics might ask.
National security is not my bailiwick, but it seems clear there's more here than meets the eye. I've never been a fan of Petraeus, who seemed like a relentless self-promoter who was at times disloyal to his commander in chief. The only justification for Obama appointing this Republican general to a sensitive administration post is to keep your enemies nearer. At least this whole brouhaha distracts from the endless media dribble about the fiscal cliff.
Friday, November 9, 2012
The scary Romney bubble
The post-election story about how Romney and Ryan were "shell-shocked" as returns came in showing an Obama victory is scary enough in itself and makes the overall fact that these men did as well as they did scarier than ever.
It shows that this rampant Republican sense of entitlement to their own facts, their denial of any truth that is inconvenient for their ideology, is not some harmless little quirk of character -- it is a menace to the body politic. The idea that anyone as out of touch with reality, as willing to consider only the sources of information that cater to his idea of the world could have had any significant power is frightening.
There was a lot of talk in the Romney campaign about finding a Republican Nate Silver, on the premise that Silver's models showing an Obama edge were deliberately skewed for partisan purposes. Silver promptly said that he might well be the Republican Nate Silver himself -- if the polls and his models ever showed an edge for that party.
Silver deals with reality. The Republicans apparently don't. The joke making the rounds before the election -- a caricature of George Washington saying "I cannot tell a lie," of Richard Nixon saying "I cannot tell the truth," and of Mitt Romney saying, "I cannot tell the difference" -- is not so funny in retrospect.
Romney and Ryan were not dissembling. They are not just pathological liars -- they are psychologically disconnected from reality. And they got 48% of the vote.
It shows that this rampant Republican sense of entitlement to their own facts, their denial of any truth that is inconvenient for their ideology, is not some harmless little quirk of character -- it is a menace to the body politic. The idea that anyone as out of touch with reality, as willing to consider only the sources of information that cater to his idea of the world could have had any significant power is frightening.
There was a lot of talk in the Romney campaign about finding a Republican Nate Silver, on the premise that Silver's models showing an Obama edge were deliberately skewed for partisan purposes. Silver promptly said that he might well be the Republican Nate Silver himself -- if the polls and his models ever showed an edge for that party.
Silver deals with reality. The Republicans apparently don't. The joke making the rounds before the election -- a caricature of George Washington saying "I cannot tell a lie," of Richard Nixon saying "I cannot tell the truth," and of Mitt Romney saying, "I cannot tell the difference" -- is not so funny in retrospect.
Romney and Ryan were not dissembling. They are not just pathological liars -- they are psychologically disconnected from reality. And they got 48% of the vote.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Adieu, Paul Ryan
I'm amazed that so many people seem to think Paul Ryan still has a future in politics. As the MSNBC commentators noted last night his contribution to the campaign was a big, fat zero, and since he couldn't even carry his home state Romney might have been better off with Rob Portman to help tip the scales in the all-important Ohio.
Ryan's serial mendacity on the campaign trail before his handlers enforced a virtual media blackout should have completely discredited his claims to be a serious expert on anything, even though Paul Krugman had long since unmasked him as a fraud.
Unsuccessful vice presidential candidates as a rule have not had great post-election careers in recent times. The only example I could find in the past century of a losing VP nominee coming back to win high political office was a guy named Franklin Roosevelt, who at 38 was the running mate with James Cox in an election that they lost to Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. This was before he was struck with the paralytic illness diagnosed as polio in 1921 and before his election as governor of New York in 1928.
But honestly I can't see Paul Ryan as a Franklin Roosevelt. If a much more formidable thinker and politician like Jack Kemp went nowhere after losing a national election, I don't see how Ryan will muster support for a new national campaign. The Republicans are going to have to tack more to the center represented by Chris Christie and the diversity represented by Marco Rubio.
I'm betting Ryan will even have trouble as Budget Committee chairman. He will be faced with the dilemma either of maintaining his reputation as a principled deficit hawk or heeding his baldfaced campaign lie that he is bipartisan. No prizes for guessing which way he will go, but it will definitively put the lie to any bipartisan pretensions.
In general, I expect a backlash in the Republican Party to a campaign based on lies. If the party has any hope for the future it will have to break the grip of the Roves and Norquists and find its way to the center with a good deal more integrity than it has shown in recent years. Again, for all the serious reservations I have about Christie, he seems well-positioned to lead the party in this direction.
Ryan's serial mendacity on the campaign trail before his handlers enforced a virtual media blackout should have completely discredited his claims to be a serious expert on anything, even though Paul Krugman had long since unmasked him as a fraud.
Unsuccessful vice presidential candidates as a rule have not had great post-election careers in recent times. The only example I could find in the past century of a losing VP nominee coming back to win high political office was a guy named Franklin Roosevelt, who at 38 was the running mate with James Cox in an election that they lost to Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. This was before he was struck with the paralytic illness diagnosed as polio in 1921 and before his election as governor of New York in 1928.
But honestly I can't see Paul Ryan as a Franklin Roosevelt. If a much more formidable thinker and politician like Jack Kemp went nowhere after losing a national election, I don't see how Ryan will muster support for a new national campaign. The Republicans are going to have to tack more to the center represented by Chris Christie and the diversity represented by Marco Rubio.
I'm betting Ryan will even have trouble as Budget Committee chairman. He will be faced with the dilemma either of maintaining his reputation as a principled deficit hawk or heeding his baldfaced campaign lie that he is bipartisan. No prizes for guessing which way he will go, but it will definitively put the lie to any bipartisan pretensions.
In general, I expect a backlash in the Republican Party to a campaign based on lies. If the party has any hope for the future it will have to break the grip of the Roves and Norquists and find its way to the center with a good deal more integrity than it has shown in recent years. Again, for all the serious reservations I have about Christie, he seems well-positioned to lead the party in this direction.
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