Tuesday
Nov032015
The Commentariat -- Nov. 4, 2015
Internal links removed.
Julie Davis of the New York Times: "The White House on Tuesday said President Obama had no intention of bowing to a request from the company behind the Keystone XL oil pipeline to delay a decision on the project, saying he wanted to take action before his tenure ends. The State Department is reviewing a request made on Monday by the company, TransCanada, to pause its yearslong evaluation of the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline, which has become part of a broader debate over Mr. Obama's environmental agenda. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said on Tuesday that 'there's reason to suspect that there may be politics at play' in TransCanada's request. He strongly suggested that the review, which has been widely expected to result in a rejection of the pipeline as soon as this month, remained on track."
** Tommy Christopher of Mediaite demolishes Paul Ryan's repeated claim that Congress can't pass immigration reform because "President Obama is untrustworthy." While he's at it, Christopher takes down the Sunday showz, which every week "all feature the same exact press releases masquerading as interviews.... In every one of those [four] interviews, [when Ryan made the claim about President Obama,] the host elected to move on, rather than to challenge what Ryan had said, despite ample basis for such a challenge."
Aw, Shucks. Jonathan Swan & Kyle Plantz of the Hill: "The Koch brothers are on a publicity tour to change their image.... The brothers' appearance on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' continues something of a coming-out tour for the publicity-shy Kochs, who became bogeymen to the left following their early funding of the Tea Party movement, their expensive and ultimately failed efforts to defeat President Obama, and their plan to spend $250 million to elect Republicans to Congress and the presidency in 2016." Includes video.
CW: Should an 18-year-old boy who talks a reluctant 15-year-old girl into having sex with him, even if he's a despicable little prick, be branded a sex offender for life? Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post says no. What say you? ...
... Jeannie Suk, in the New Yorker: "What we are really talking about here is not rape, as we have until recently understood it, but rather sex that we strongly dislike. We are in the midst of a significant cultural shift, in which we are redescribing sex that we vehemently dislike as rape, and sexual attitudes that we strongly disapprove of as examples of rape culture."
David Rising of the AP: "Germany's Volkswagen, already reeling from the fallout of cheating on U.S. emissions tests for nitrogen oxide, said Tuesday that an internal investigation has revealed 'unexplained inconsistencies' in the carbon dioxide emissions from 800,000 of its vehicles -- a development it said could cost the company another 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion). The investigation was undertaken by the company after the revelations that many of its vehicles had software that allowed them to deceive U.S. nitrogen oxide tests. CEO Matthias Mueller promised Tuesday that Volkswagen 'will relentlessly and completely clarify what has happened.'"
AFP: "Michelle Obama called for an end to 'outdated laws and traditions' preventing millions of girls around the world from completing their education, in an impassioned speech Wednesday in Qatar. Obama spoke for almost 25 minutes at the Qatar National Convention Centre to a packed audience which included ... political and education leaders from around the world."
Elections Results
Horrible! Sheryl Gay Stolberg & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Matt Bevin, a Republican political novice, wealthy Louisville businessman and favorite, was elected Kentucky's next governor on Tuesday, a victory that could herald a new era in a state where Democrats have held the governor's mansion for all but four of the last 44 years. The Associated Press declared Mr. Bevin the winner shortly after 8 p.m. In beating his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Jack Conway, Mr. Bevin surprised many in his own party.... Mr. Bevin, a fierce opponent of the [Affordable Care Act], at first said he would reverse it, but has since softened his position and said he would stop enrolling new people but would not take coverage from people who had it." ...
... CW: We'll see if the Obama administration goes along with a plan to cut off new applicants while still providing assistance to current enrollees. Talk about unequal treatment under the law. ...
... Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Bevin's win, and the Republican victories in neighboring Virginia, were body blows to Democratic hopes of enforcing the Affordable Care Act. Virginia voters rejected a chance to hand the state Senate back to a party that would expand Medicaid; some Kentucky voters who had benefited from the expansion surely voted against the candidate who'd keep it as is." ...
... Greg Sargent: "The news that Tea Party Republican Matt Bevin snatched the Kentucky governor's mansion away from Democrats is a particularly stark reminder of how deep a hole Democrats have dug for themselves on the level of the states, and of the consequences that could have for the long-term success of the liberal and Democratic agenda."
Laura Vozzella & Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: "Republicans held onto the Virginia Senate in fiercely contested elections Tuesday, leaving Gov. Terry McAuliffe without legislative leverage or political momentum as he works to deliver Virginia for his friend and ally Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2016."
Katherine Dreissen of the Houston Chronicle: "Houston's controversial equal rights ordinance failed by a wide margin Tuesday, with voters opting to repeal the law that offered broad non-discrimination protections, according to incomplete and unofficial returns."
AP: "In a single stroke, Ohio voters rejected a ballot proposal Tuesday to legalize marijuana for both recreational and medical use." The Cleveland.com story, by Jackie Borchardt, is here.
Susan Haigh of the AP: "An ex-convict who spent seven years in federal prison for corruption reclaimed the Bridgeport mayor's office Tuesday, completing a stunning comeback bid that tapped nostalgia for brighter days in Connecticut's largest city. Joe Ganim, who was released from prison only five years ago, declared victory in a race involving seven opponents."
Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Michael E. McMahon, a former congressman and New York City councilman, was chosen as the new district attorney of Staten Island on Tuesday, winning a contentious special election in the city's most conservative borough. In defeating Joan Illuzzi, a Republican, Mr. McMahon, a Democrat, takes over a position that drew national attention after a Staten Island grand jury decided not to indict a police officer in the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man."
Brent Johnson of NJ.com: "Democrats tightened their control of the [New Jersey] state Assembly in Tuesday's elections, wresting at least three seats away from a Republican party ruled by Gov. Chris Christie, a presidential candidate whose popularity has dropped at home. It means Democrats will control at least 51 of the 80 seats in the lower house of the state Legislature as of January -- their biggest majority since 1979."
Paul Egan of the Detroit Free Press: "Two former Republican state representatives who lost their seats in September amid a sex and cover-up scandal were soundly defeated Tuesday in their special primary bids to regain their seats. Cindy Gamrat of Plainwell was defeated Tuesday in her bid to regain her Allegan County state House seat by Mary Whiteford of South Haven. And former state representative Todd Courser, who admitted to having an extramarital affair with Gamrat and misusing state House resources in an attempt to cover it up, also lost his bid to win his seat back after resigning in September while facing expulsion from the House."
Ivan Moreno of the AP: "Suburban Denver voters on Tuesday ousted three conservative school board members who changed the way teachers are paid and briefly considered reviewing a U.S. history curriculum to promote patriotism. The high-profile political battle attracted a huge influx of cash from inside Jefferson County and from outside groups with an interest in what education reforms should look like. By overwhelming margins, voters agreed to recall Ken Witt, Julie Williams and John Newkirk, who were elected into office in 2013 and made up the majority in the five-member board of the second-largest school district in the state."
** Eitan Hersh of 538: "In the ongoing fight between Democrats and Republicans over election procedures like voter ID and early voting, the Democrats are supposedly the champions of higher turnout and reducing barriers to participation. But when it comes to scheduling off-cycle elections like those taking place today, the Democratic Party is the champion of voter suppression.... [Bills to consolidate elections], which were generally sponsored by Republicans, typically failed because of Democratic opposition.... Democrats opposed the bills at the urging of Democratic-aligned interest groups, namely teachers unions and municipal employee organizations.... For Democrats like [Hillary] Clinton who are apparently aghast at Republican efforts at voter suppression, today is a good day to take a look in the mirror." ...
... Zandar, in Balloon Juice, disagrees. ...
... CW: For what it's worth, I think Hersh is at least half-right. Whether or not it is the intention of Democrats to lower turnout, that is the effect of off-year elections. If you think I might be wrong, check out the results above. The only national-newsworthy election result that went liberals' way, at least up to what has been reported as of late last night, was a local school election. (I've since updated, so a few elections I've cited went the better way.)
Presidential Race
Un.Fucking.Believable. Mark Murray of NBC News: "One year out before the 2016 general election, Hillary Clinton and Ben Carson are tied in a hypothetical matchup, but Clinton leads three other major Republican candidates, according to brand-new numbers from the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll."
Scott Morgan of Reuters: "The U.S. Republican Party filed a formal complaint against one of Hillary Clinton's family charities with the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday and is calling for an audit after the charity said this week it would not refile erroneous tax returns. The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation's flagship health program conceded earlier this year it had misreported by millions of the dollars the money it was given by governments compared with non-government donors in its tax returns for 2012 and 2013."
Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: Among Republican presidential candidates, only Marco Rubio has been marginally supportive of the goals of BlackLivesMatter.
Jenna Johnson & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump and Ben Carson are still dominating the polls, but many in the crowded Republican presidential race are now launching attacks on the candidate who seems poised to be their next major threat: Marco Rubio.... During a news conference Tuesday in Manhattan, Trump called Rubio 'overrated,' accused him of being 'a disaster with his credit cards' and attacked him as 'very weak' on immigration. At the same time, Bush -- whose campaign has disparagingly labeled Rubio as a 'GOP Obama' -- doubled down on criticizing Rubio for missing more than a third of his Senate votes this year.... Two other GOP presidential candidates, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas)...."
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Ben Carson ... announced last week that he had shelved his plan to end ... [Medicare]. But the few components of a new plan he's revealed have only added to the confusion ... and his opponents are beginning to pounce.... Carson ... has struggled to define exactly what he'd like to see in its stead. Asked about his Medicare platform on two Sunday news shows last week, he left the hosts scratching their heads.... 'The liberal media -- and now one of my competitors -- is claiming I want to "abolish" Medicare. That is plain laughable,' Carson wrote to supporters, referring to the claim as 'slander.' He also told Wallace that it's a 'narrative that somebody's putting out there to scare people.'" ...
... CW: Uh, Doc, that "laughable" "somebody" who is "slandering" you & "scaring people" about abolishing Medicare would be -- you.
Even if all the media tries to shut you down -- which they have tried very much to do with me. But they can't because the good Lord has provided me with mechanisms like my syndicated column and like Fox News. We'd be Cuba if there were no Fox News. -- Ben Carson, conspiracy theorist, last year
Someone on that debate stage .. they're using National Review as their political tool [to attack me]. That's pretty obvious. -- Ben Carson, this week ...
... BTW, the core story Carson is claiming was the brainchild of one of his opponents ran in January of this year. It's author, Jim Geraghty, denies that any rival campaign contacted him about a follow-up he wrote after Carson lied during the last debate about his involvement with the dietary supplement company Mannatech. -- Constant Weader
... ** Grifter-in-Chief. Jonathan Chait: "Conservative politics are so closely intermingled with a lucrative entertainment complex that it is frequently impossible to distinguish between a political project (that is, something designed to result in policy change) and a money-making venture.... The notion that [Ben] Carson could be president is preposterous.... He has never run for elected office. He has never managed a large organization; he has not worked in and around public policy, and he lacks a competent grasp of issues. His stance on health care, the closest thing to an issue with which his professional experience has brought him into contact, is gibberish.... His campaign itself is structured much more like a scamming venture than a political one. An astronomical 69 percent of his fund-raising totals are spent on more fund-raising. (Bernie Sanders, by contrast, spends just 4 percent of his intake on fund-raising.)... He is a perfect con artist." ... BTW, Chait goes there, noting that Carson's manner is "subdued" "to the point of appearing medicated." ...
... Lie to Me. CW: Chait highlighted Carson's "chilling" ability to lie with a straight face by encouraging readers to watch the video where he lies to Carl Quintanilla bout his connection to Mannatech. So I did. Two things: when he's about to tell a lie, he closes his eyes. Maybe it's a little prayer where he asks god to forgive him for telling a whopper. Also, when he's pulled it off (or when he insults people & gets away with it), he laughs heartily. (See also his reaction to the audience response to his saying that "Many [Americans] are stupid.) ...
... Steve M.: "... it's ... a fallacy to imagine that a kook and a scammer can't also have a messiah complex. How many personality cults are there in which the guy robbing the flock blind actually believes he's the exalted figure he tells the follower he is?... Remember, conservative rhetoric values the untutored amateur over the professional. Society's real guarantors of personal safety are civilians with guns, not cops. College professors and Ivy League graduates are to be looked upon with suspicion; country musicians and the Duck Dynasty guys tell us the plain truth, even about science. The greatest man to ever occupy the Oval Office was an ex-movie actor regularly mocked as an unschooled dolt. Why wouldn't a guy who's imbibed this ideology of amateurism believe that he really can be president if lots of people are telling him he can?"
Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Monday night mocked the letter drafted by Republican presidential campaigns listing a series of rules and questions for networks hosting future debates. After listing some of the demands, including that networks not allow lightning rounds or candidate-to-candidate questioning, Kelly jokingly suggested, 'And then maybe the foot massage?'" ...
... Steve M.: "Fox News denounces Republican candidates for sounding like Fox News."
Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "Jeb Bush fashions himself the thinking man's Republican candidate for president. Donald Trump, he declared late last month, is 'not serious.' When it comes to foreign policy, Trump hasn't 'thought these things through.' Trump is 'not taking the responsibility -- the possibility of becoming the president of the United States really seriously.' So what are Jeb's well-thought-out, serious foreign-policy views? He offered a few on Monday in what aides dubbed an important speech aimed at resetting his presidential campaign. And they were insane." ...
... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker on who counts as a "serious" presidential candidate. ...
<>... Zeke Miller of Time: Jeb Bush acknowledges he was wrong about the French workweek. "'I made the mistake of saying that the Congress operates on a French work week,' he deadpanned. 'I really did a disservice to the French,' Bush added with a chuckle Tuesday. 'My inbox was full of French journalists,' piped in campaign spokesman Tim Miller." ...
... Jeb? Nick Gass of Politico: Jeb Bush "apparently failed to secure the JebCanFixIt.com domain name when he rolled out the slogan as part of the relaunch of his sagging presidential campaign. In the meantime, Jimmy Flannigan, a former candidate for City Council in Austin, Texas, snapped it up and launched his own site, claiming Bush 'is trying to steal my slogan!' (Flannigan, in his failed bid for a council seat, ran with a 'Flannigan Can Fix It!' slogan.)... Flannigan told Politico that Bush's failure to secure it was an amateur move." CW: Looks as if the skeleton staff left after Jeb!'s purge is just not into the Internets. CW: Can Jeb! Fix It? Flannigan says the domain name is for sale.
I'm So Tough I Can Shoot Putin Without Even Looking Him in the Eye:
... Ted Gives New Meaning to "Tailgunner." Wes Siler of Gizmodo: "Staunch gun rights advocate Ted Cruz is here seen holding a shotgun" backwards [link fixed], with the muzzle pointed toward the people behind him, while he blathers on about "liberal moderators." "'He's either a poser who doesn't really hunt, or just a blindingly dangerous nincompoop,' concludes Scott [Nathan, a hunter & NRA member]. 'He's got moves like Cheney.'" CW: Hey, maybe Tailgunner Ted will strafe some of the unsuspecting locals with that ass-backward action, but at least he has his cap on frontwards -- unlike a certain Speaker of the House (see yesterday's Portrait of a Washington Homeless Man).
Beyond the Beltway
Lisa Black, et al., of the Chicago Tribune: "Authorities have called a news conference for Wednesday to announce 'significant new information' regarding the shooting death of a Fox Lake police officer, and multiple law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation have told the Tribune that authorities are expected to announce that he took his own life. The sources say that authorities believe Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, 52, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound Sept. 1. The new information comes two months after officers found Gliniewicz mortally wounded in a remote, marshy area of the village near the Wisconsin border." ...
... Michael Miller of the Washington Post: Officials will say Gliniewicz died in "an elaborately staged suicide.... The revelation could alter public perception of not only Gliniewicz but also the argument that cops are increasingly under attack in America. The death of the Fox Lake cop ... became a touchstone for law enforcement officials across the country who believe they are under increased threat amid growing scrutiny of police in the wake of a string of high-profile police-involved killings.... According to recently released FBI data, however, assaults on police officers dropped sharply in 2014 and are at their lowest point since 1996. In a case similar to Gliniewicz's disputed death, an Arkansas police officer was arrested Tuesday for allegedly lying about being shot during a traffic stop."
News Ledes
Washington Post: Canada's Liberal party leader Justin "Trudeau was sworn in [as the country's prime minister] on Wednesday. At 43, he becomes the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history."
Al Jazeera: "Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta announced the resignation of his government Wednesday in a surprise move that followed huge protests in the wake of a nightclub fire that killed at least 32 people."
New York Times: "Honda Motor Company on Tuesday dropped the embattled manufacturer Takata as its airbag supplier, concluding that the company, its longtime partner, had 'misrepresented and manipulated test data.'"
New York Times: "China, the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases from coal, has been burning up to 17 percent more coal a year than the government previously disclosed, according to newly released data. The finding could complicate the already difficult efforts to limit global warming. Even for a country of China's size, the scale of the correction is immense. The sharp upward revision in official figures means that China has released much more carbon dioxide -- almost a billion more tons a year according to initial calculations -- than previously estimated."
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Reader Comments (17)
To answer C. W's query re: Ruth Marcus's piece I will answer in the affirmative and agree with her assessment. I find this story terribly sad. We know this is not an isolated case. We live in a culture where young boys talk tough––"I boned her"–-whoopee! Metals for how many girls can I screw before I'm through being such a dolt; where young girls are flattered and succumb to this kind of horrific maltreatment. What's the source of this kind of thinking? That's where we have to look.
Meg Whitman was on Rose last night. She was kind to Carly and told Charlie she was a Chris Christie fan––he has the gift of reaching people––she said. I've watched the video where Christie is talking about addiction–-tells the stories about his mother and a friend who died after becoming addicted to Percocet. I tend to believe him about his mother, but have doubts about the friend. Nevertheless he brings God into the discussion and manages to to make a plea for anti-abortion while he's at it. I applaud his message about addiction, but I'm wondering if he's doing a bit of pandering here.
So the words, crazy, loony, drugs etc. are finally being attached to Carson by the media. And sort of mention of lying. The bigger problem of course is that the vast majority of voters don't read anything. When reality starts to strike during primaries hopefully people will start to notice. The one I am waiting for the most is the fact that Carson believes that all Christians except his church are going to hell or just plain death because they occasionally eat pork chops.
The land of the free and the home of the dumb.
People cannot possibly be this stupid to keep electing Republicans. There has to be some other explanation. Karoli at Crooks and Liars has some food for thought.
OK, OK, Somebody has to say it...
How to tell Carson is lying?
His lips are moving.
Rape? or not? Sex offender or not?
Could get in trouble on this one, but must say I share both the Marcus and P.D's uneasiness with the verdict. To paraphrase, as Sulk says in the New Yorker piece, once the force element is eliminated, we're in uncharted waters, as we seem to be in many other elements of our society.
But there have always been uncertainties when it comes to sex; we're just recognizing that those ambiguities exist and trying to codify them. As the St. Paul case should make clear, attitudes toward sex are cultural artifacts and as cultures shift, the signposts we set out to guide behavior often disappear. Certainly there was something wrong with the St. Paul culture, and I can't imagine that the adult supposedly in charge of the school were wholly oblivious to it. Maybe they should have been on trial.
Now university campuses are grappling with some of the uncertainties that have always surrounded sex between those we choose to call adults. So far, I'm not impressed with the results, only pleased that I won't have to re-negotiate today's shifting campus sexual terrain. From this distance in years, I admit I'm lost.
Even history offers little clear direction. This from the Urban Dictionary on that bit of wisdom I grew up with: "Sixteen will get you twenty." Turns out even that was wrong. The within four years exemption in the last paragraph is particularly interesting...
"16 will get you 20 is actually a fallacy, based on the rules for pornography in the United States. While it is true that a minor (under 18) may not appear nude in any form of media, there is no federal law mandating a legal age of consent. The age of consent is defined by the state government, not the federal one.
The most common age of consent in the United States is 16; however some states have 17 or 18 as the legal age of consent. It is however a federal crime to cross state lines with a minor in order to have sex legally; you cannot take your 16 year old girlfriend from NY to New Hampshire just to have sex.
16 will get you 20 is actually a fallacy, based on the rules for pornography in the United States. While it is true that a minor (under 18) may not appear nude in any form of media, there is no federal law mandating a legal age of consent. The age of consent is defined by the state government, not the federal one.
The most common age of consent in the United States is 16; however some states have 17 or 18 as the legal age of consent. It is however a federal crime to cross state lines with a minor in order to have sex legally; you cannot take your 16 year old girlfriend from NY to New Hampshire just to have sex.
Most states also have a close in age exemption of around four years, where teens aged 14+ may have intercourse with others within four years of their own age. Numbers vary state to state, some being 16+, and some with 3 or 5 years; and not every state has such rules."
BTW, I never finished LOLITA. For my simple taste, it was just too weird.
@Nancy: Thanks for linking to Karoli's post. Karoli is more conspiracy-minded than I & has more faith in the intelligence of Kentucky voters than I do. Now I will pretend to be a lo-info Kentucky voter:
"Let's see. Andy Beshear. Oh, he's the fellow that gave me my Kynect insurance." (Or, presuming this voter is a little better informed: "Oh, he's a Beshear. He's not going to take away Steve Beshear's Kynect insurance.")
"Alison Lundergan Grimes for secretary of state. Well, I voted against her for Senate, but girls make good secretaries. So check."
"Jack Conway. He's for ObamaCare. He's going to take away my free Kynect insurance & make me get expensive socialist insurance & pay for all the black people. No way."
Marie
Even though I believe this Owen Labrie character is a slithering reptile, I'm not sure a lifetime brand of sex offender is warranted. The sex offender registry is useful and necessary in many cases but it has been applied so injudiciously in many situations. In some states you can make the list by peeing outdoors. Teenagers, boyfriend and girlfriend (or, I'd imagine, boyfriend and boyfriend, etc) could be registered as sex offenders if they're underage and have sex.
The sex offender tag is very helpful for the real predators. It follows you around forever. You are obliged to register with local authorities if you move and anyone can check this registry.
There has to be something in between scot-free and sex offender, but I'm not sure what that would be or what would be appropriate. I'm tempted to say we should look at the facts and not at the personality involved. Yes, this kid seems like a reprehensible little slug, a burgeoning misogynist if I've ever seen one, but what if he was a regular kid who went a little further than he should have because the signals weren't too clear? Would a sex offender label be appropriate in that case? But then you'd have to consider that he's not a regular kid and the whole point of this "game" was predatory.
Now I'm talking myself into giving him the axe.
But that just points up the problem. It seems like it's either all or nothing. There should be something in between. Maybe a couple of years of public service before getting on with his incredibly privileged life. Maybe he turns it around and learns the errors of his ways. Or maybe, he turns into Donald Trump and runs for president.
I would also second Ken's thoughts about the responsibilities of the adults at this school. This sort of thing does not go on without word leaking out. This senior salute thing is described as a campus tradition so it's not like no one knows about it. For this to go on under the noses of school staff and administration is abysmal. This is not light hazing or some dumb prank. This is codified and tacitly supported sexual assault. And the only ones who get to win--or even play--are senior boys who are predatory assholes. Girls are the marks. Does the school believe this sort of exercise contributes to building a moral character, or is it just "something we've always done"?
Owen Labrie is a scumbag but St. Paul's has a lot to answer for as well. Maybe the entire administration should be threatened with sex offender registration. Then we'd see how fast the senior salute would disappear.
@Ken Winkes. Thanks for reminding us of the age differential. According to this lawyer's site, in New Hampshire, sexual assault is defined, in part, as "engaging in sexual penetration (sexual intercourse, oral or anal sex, or sexual penetration of the victim or the defendant) with a child over the age of 13 but under the age of 16 when the defendant is less than four years older than the child."
The difference between Labrie's age & his victim's was less than 4 years. So the issue in the case (the charges for which Labrie was acquitted) regarded consent.
Marie
Regarding the Kentucky election.
Friends of mine living in Louisville reported several things about the election.
First, Jack Conway is a terrible candidate. A sort of Stepford, Ken doll candidate who really didn't seem to stand for anything besides trying not to say anything that would piss people off, including running ads touting how he "stood up to Obama".
Second, he ran a terrible campaign. My friends, who live on the bluest street of the bluest neighborhood of the bluest city in the bluest county in the whole state, and who are on record as being regular contributors to Democratic causes and Democratic candidates in Kentucky, were visited no less than three times by Conway supporters knocking on their door asking for their votes. Really? Maybe these people should have been out in purple counties where no one visits asking for votes for Conway rather than besieging people whose votes are in the bag.
Jack Conway has now given Kentucky residents a Republican governor, a whacko who is distrusted by many other Republicans, who will now try to dismantle healthcare in the state. A couple of years ago he gave the country a curmudgeonly little squirt name Rand Paul. Either of these weirdos could have been beaten by a strong Democratic candidate who stood for something other than not getting caught saying something stupid, but the Conway machine was in place and he had a lot of money which, it appears, he used stupidly.
I think it's time for Jack Conway to retire from politics before he's the cause of anymore Republican losses turned into stunning victories.
This per my very distraught friends in Louisville.
@Akhilleus: I'm with you on all counts. I don't know the rector (headmaster) of St. Paul's, but I know his brother slightly -- he's the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire. He -- the bishop -- seems like a very nice guy with very conventional liberal views. No coloring outside the lines. Going along to get along. I think that's how you get to be bishop & headmaster of a prestigious school.
I don't doubt that rector & some faculty members knew -- to some degree -- what was going on, but it was way more conveeenient not to notice so as not to upset the wealthy parents of their students. Well, they're all upset now.
Marie
Kentucky election, postscript.
None of the above is meant to suggest that there wasn't any funny business with election machines.
And Democrats forget the penchant for Republican electoral shenanigans at their own peril as we approach the presidential election.
They've had years to perfect their machinations and despite the fact that it's pretty clear that George Bush won a second term because of votes that were made to disappear in Ohio, nothing has been done to fix machines that were put in place specifically for the purpose of guaranteeing Republican victories. Remember, Walden O'Dell, one of Bush's biggest fundraisers and CEO of Diebold, the company whose machines were used in Ohio to tally votes, guaranteed Bush the state of Ohio. Wonder how he could do that?
Everyone seems to forget about this. I have little doubt that plenty of races in this country have been won by Republicans due to a combination of voting irregularities and vote suppression.
Now is the time to start working on this. And that story about the way Democrats suppress votes via off-cycle election scheduling is bad but nowhere near as bad as the type of schemes Republicans have been working on. Nonetheless, it gives Confederates and the media enough to go on to declare that both sides do it.
Ken,
Re: "Lolita". This is one of those books that may be doomed to sit forever in one of my bookcases, unread. Some books have that status due to a sudden interest in reading something else at just that moment, but "Lolita"? I dunno....
It's not a prudish thing. I've seen the Kubrick film which is compelling in the way it creates such a complete and completely odd world and makes it's weirdness almost magnetic, sort of like not being able look away from a terrible accident.
I like Nabokov as a writer and I think he was a fabulously interesting guy, but somehow, whenever I pick up that book, something else catches my eye. Like "War and Peace". Or "Anna Karenina".
Hey, at least I stayed with a Russian.
Akhilleus,
A brief "Lolita" story.
An early critic and admirer of "Lolita" (I think he did an annotated edition of it before or soon after being removed for plagiarism from the university where he taught) told this in his class:
Some years before he was in Europe serving in the military. One of his bunkmates picked up the copy of "Lolita" he had left on his bed, hoping perhaps for a little barracks porno to while away the time. He read the first lines aloud, as I remember them something like "Lo-li-ta, light of my life, fire of my loins," (I did get that far and remember there might also have been something about tapping of the tongue on the teeth?), paused, disgusted, and tossed the book back on the critic-to-be's bed, saying, "Shit, man, that's literature!"
Another illustration, perhaps, of the varying responses to our sexual mores, appetites and practices.
"but girls make good secretaries..."
If I'd had a cup of coffee when I read that, Marie, I would have spit it out laughing.
Ken,
Great story. There's just something about the sense that a book or film might come down too far on the art side that is generally off-putting for some people.
I once tried to get a couple of friends to accompany me to see Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood". Knowing my tastes they looked a little squinty-eyed at me thinking I was trying to put something over on them. "Is this supposed to be good for us?" one asked. I said no, not at all...it's about samurai warriors and blood and death and killing and murder and good shit like that. This seemed to assure them a bit until stupidly I let out that it was a medieval Japanese version of Macbeth. That did it. Shakespeare? No fucking way.
Oh well...
You may dislike his other policies, but we finally have a Republican Presidential candidate talking common sense regarding drug addiction:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chris-christie-drug-addiction-treatment_56327ee9e4b0c66bae5bc0f3
Had only a little time to troll for good news this election week but found some. From "Every Voice,"
"Last night, we told you about the win in Maine with the passage of Question 1* – but voters also won a big victory in Seattle, with the passage of Initiative 122!
I-122 creates a first-in-the-nation system for democratizing city elections by giving every voter the opportunity to invest directly in political campaigns through “Democracy Vouchers." The initiative also tightens contribution limits for city contractors, closes the revolving door for lobbyists, and increases transparency and accountability."
*also a public financing of elections proposition
And this week Montana became the 30th state to expand Medicaid.
I'm sure there's more good news--somewhere. If those in RC land find some, post it. I need more.