The Commentariat -- March 11, 2012
Daylight Saving Time (United States) begins Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 2:00 am local time, except Arizona and Hawaii. Move your clocks ahead 1 hour ("Spring forward; fall back").
My column in today's New York Times eXaminer takes a look at how the New York Times handles Mitt's Mendacity -- the candidate's propensity to telling somewhere around a lie a day. The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here.
CW: sorry, I meant to link this a while back but forgot (I think I did link to a story on this last year). David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "Mary Brown, a 56-year-old Florida woman who owned a small auto repair shop but had no health insurance, became the lead plaintiff challenging President Obama's healthcare law because she was passionate about the issue.... But court records reveal that Brown and her husband filed for bankruptcy last fall with $4,500 in unpaid medical bills. Those bills could change Brown from a symbol of proud independence into an example of exactly the problem the healthcare law was intended to address."
Susn Saulny of the New York Times: "In Iowa, one of the crucial battlegrounds in the coming presidential election, and in other states, dozens of interviews in recent weeks have found that moderate Republican and independent women — one of the most important electoral swing groups — are disenchanted by the Republican focus on social issues like contraception and abortion in an election that, until recently, had been mostly dominated by the economy. And in what appears to be an abrupt shift, some Republican-leaning women like Ms. Russell said they might switch sides and vote for Mr. Obama — if they turn out to vote at all." ...
... Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: "President Obama’s re-election campaign is beginning an intensified effort this week to build support among women, using the debate over the new health care law to amplify an appeal that already appears to be benefiting from partisan clashes over birth control and abortion."
David Catanese of Politico: "Washington Rep. Jay Inslee [D] is resigning his Hous seat to fully focus his attention on his gubernatorial campaign against GOP Attorney General Rob McKenna.... The move is a tacit acknowledgment that the Inslee campaign is not where Democrats would like it to be eight months from the open-seat election to replace Gov. Christine Gregoire."
Judd Legum of Think Progress fowards a story reported by RadioInfo.com: "When it comes to advertisers avoiding controversial shows, it’s not just Rush From today’s TRI Newsletter: Premiere Networks is circulating a list of 98 advertisers who want to avoid 'environments likely to stir negative sentiments.' The list includes carmakers (Ford, GM, Toyota), insurance companies (Allstate, Geico, Prudential, State Farm) and restaurants (McDonald’s, Subway)." ...
... Arthur Goldwag has a good post in Salon on "The Right Wing's Pornography of Resentment." Goldwag puts Limbaugh's crude weirdness in historical perspective. "Prudery and prurience often go hand in glove. Prurience and paranoia are fellow travelers as well."
There's a new storyline floating around the the Supremes' Citizens United decision (along with follow-up rullings based on Citizens) are not responsible for all that SuperPAC spending. Richard Hasen, writing in Slate, runs the numbers to refute this defense of the Court.
Nicholas Kristof: A British businessman, Robert Bittlestone, thinks he has found ancient Ithaca, and some scholars agree. Includes an interesting video.
Right Wing World
Josh Dorner of Think Progress: a billionaire Romney backer says the super-rich don't have enough influence over politics. Hedge fund billionare Ken Griffth said "that the ultrawealthy 'have a duty' to step forward and save the U.S. from what he says is a drift toward Soviet-style state control of the economy."
News Ledes
The Hill: "U.S. officials worked quickly to calm tensions after an American service member in Kandahar province opened fire on Afghan civilians Sunday, killing at least sixteen. President Obama said he was 'deeply saddened' by news of the attack, in a released statement. He said the shooting was 'tragic and shocking, and does not represent the exceptional character of our military and the respect that the United States has for the people of Afghanistan.'" ...
... New York Times: "A United States service member walked out of a military base in a rural district of southern Afghanistan on Sunday and opened fire on three nearby houses, killing at least 15 civilians, local villagers and provincial officials said." ...
... Story has been updated. New lede: "Stalking from home to home, a United States Army sergeant methodically killed at least 16 civilians, 9 of them children, in a rural stretch of southern Afghanistan early on Sunday, igniting fears of a new wave of anti-American hostility, Afghan and American officials said."
Washington Post: "In Wyoming, where some counties had held caucuses earlier in the week, Romney easily outpaced his rivals and won seven of the 12 delegates at stake. Santorum won three, Paul one. (One delegate went uncommitted.)"
Guardian: "A 12-year-old boy was among those reported to have been killed in Gaza on Sunday amid a spiralling round of militant rocket attacks and Israeli air strikes over the weekend that left at least 18 Palestinians dead and four people in Israel injured."
AP: "Across Japan, people paused at 2:46 p.m. — the moment the magnitude-9.0 quake struck a year ago — for moments of silence, prayer and reflection about the enormous losses suffered and monumental tasks ahead."
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Reader Comments (5)
I am looking forward to your take on today's Ross Douthat's column like a child looks forward to Christmas.
Identifying the two worlds. That is what the GOP primaries have truly accomplished. A large proportion of the people who actually bother to vote in these primaries are in their own tight world. The world of fear, blame, anger and for a significant number hate. They hide in their cocoon of ignorance. They listen to only those stories that they want to hear. Fox 'news', Santorum, Gingrich and depending on the moment, Romney. Their toughest choice is whether to have their hate for the black President outweigh their hate of the Mormon. For these people, the current world is a new challenge, so much science, so much exposure to the world, you know, TV and the internet. It is so much harder to hide. They need to fight back, to keep the cocoon tight and the GOP candidates are spending all of their words trying to help them hide. I mean, ya know, college is for the liberal elites. States have rights, except if they approve gay marriage. People need to be free of government intervention in their lives except women. The recession is the fault of the socialist president, not the Wall Street Republicans.
Unfortunately for the Republicans, their primary voters are not the majority of our world. Now it is time for the rest of the America to stand up and put an end to this. Thanks to the GOP primary voters, it might not be that difficult.
@Marvin Schwalb. Exactly right. The TPing of the nation has been astounding. And it runs the gamut of policies -- from the traditional "family values" issues (to which they have now added a fight against contraception, a fairly amazing development) to basic economics -- screw everybody but the rich, with super gifts for the super-rich.
@Jack Mahoney. I haven't faced Douthat yet, but I'll take a look. I gathered from the blurb that he's written a paean to Republican voters. I would have something to say about that. I think "Game Change," which I watched last night, may give me my lede.
Not that you need any help but here's my slightly amended NYTimes post on Douthat. And with no more than that I'll leave the rest (I'm sure there will be much more and better) up to you. I look forward to it.
Not since Eisenhower and Nixon (but for the large exception of his part in prosecuting the Vietnam War and a little accident like Watergate) have we heard a Republican message based on the world we really live in rather than on the one we might wish we did.
Currently, the Republican Party is a loose and increasingly cantankerous amalgam of anti-Obama, anti-government, anti-gay, anti-tax, anti-minority, anti-science, of late, anti-women, and anti-anything that might tap into enough fear or resentment to motivate a contribution or a vote.
The Reagan happy talk is threadbare. Most know that all that talk aside, he left us with both higher taxes and a higher deficit. Bush II's ownership society has come to pass, but even most Republicans realize it's now owned by the 1%.
No, those who did not run in the Republican primary are not crazy. But if they had to pander to the current incarnation of the Republican Party they've all had a hand in creating, what could they say to appeal to them that was not?
@Ken Winkes. I agree that those who chose not to run are not crazy. But lets be clear about those that did decide to run, they are crazy. And I mean that in terms of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Crazy, as in a real diagnosable disorder. There is controversy over the new version of the DSM currently being put together in that it is certainly not always clear what constitutes 'disorder' and what is just bad behavior. But it takes special character to be able to lie without obvious guilt, believe in your self importance beyond any other human or think that you represent the only truth.