The Commentariat -- March 13, 2012
And doubtless, my going on this whaling voyage, formed part of the grand programme of Providence that was drawn up a long time ago. It came in as a sort of brief interlude and solo between more extensive performances. I take it that this part of the bill must have run something like this:
'Grand Contested Election for the Presidency of the
United States'
'Whaling Voyage by One Ishmael'
'Bloody Battle in Affghanistan'-- Ishmael, Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on "Stanley Fish's Strange Double Standard." Thanks to contributor Carlyle for the inspiration. The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here.
President Barack Obama & Prime Minister David Cameron in a Washington Post op-ed: "The alliance between the United States and Great Britain is a partnership of the heart, bound by the history, traditions and values we share."
"What If Bush Had Done That? Josh Gerstein of Politico: "President Barack Obama has forged a surprising consensus on opposite ends of the political spectrum: They wonder how on earth he gets away with it. A series of recent moves — from aggressively filling his reelection war chest to green-lighting shoot-to-kill orders against an American terror suspect overseas — would have triggered a massive backlash if George W. Bush had tried them, say former Bush administration officials and a few on the political left."
New York Times Editors: the Justice Department and a Wisconsin judge block restrictive voter ID laws enacted by Republican legislatures trying to suppress the vote (the Texas law would have disenfranchised as many as 800,000 Hispanic voters).
Steve Mufson of the Washington Post: "How much does the president have to do with the price of gasoline? A lot, say American voters. According to oil experts and economists, not so much — at least in the short term. Today’s oil prices are the product of years and decades of exploration, automobile design and ingrained consumer habits combined with political events in places such as Sudan and Libya, anxiety about possible conflict with Iran, and the energy aftershocks of last year’s earthquake in Japan."
Steve Israel (D-NY) in a Politico op-ed: "Tone-deaf House Republicans are preparing a budget that will — again — protect millionaires over Medicare."
Right Wing World
Greg Sargent wonders if there is any limit to Romney's dishonesty: "The Romney campaign is accusing Obama of slashing Medicare, and hence 'ending Medicare as we know it,' while simultaneously accusing him of failing to curb entitlement spending in ways that pose grave danger to the nation’s finances. This, even as Romney has endorsed a plan that would quasi-voucherize Medicare and end the program as we know it." ...
... Brian Beutler has a more detailed take, but draws the same conclusion: the Romney camp charges are totally fake. (I'm looking to see if the MSM will cover this, & if so, how.) ...
... Multimillionaire Romney, who turned 65 yesterday, won't be enrolling in Medicare. ...
... AND Steve Benen makes a point I made in a NYTX column a few days ago: "... when we're dealing with one of the year's most important policy disputes, and the leading Republican contender gets caught lying blatantly, media professionals are making a mistake when they do little more than shrug their shoulders. When reporters get so inured to Romney's dishonesty that it no longer seems interesting or noteworthy, it sends a signal to the political world that facts and honesty simply don't matter anymore, and campaigns should come down to which candidate can tell better lies."
Forget the facts; it's all about what you believe. A funny post by Joshua Keating of Foreign Policy on Rick Santorum's strange claim than one in 20 Dutch people are euthanized against their will: "Dutch medical statistics are ultimately unknowable -- just another of the unresolvable mysteries that have confronted us since the dawn of mankind. Who are we? Why are we here? What are the laws in the Netherlands concerning doctor-assisted suicide? We all have our own beliefs."
News Ledes
Alabama & Mississippi GOP voters go to the polls today. Politico: "In a topsy-turvy GOP primary, where the unexpected has been the norm, such a final plot twist may be altogether fitting: The Mormon Yankee who thinks cheese grits are a revelation effectively seals the nomination in Alabama and Mississippi. Mitt Romney has a shot to win both states — polls show him leading or effectively tied in each. But even if the former Massachusetts governor doesn’t take them outright, the apparent resurgence of Newt Gingrich in the Deep South has once again muddled the primary-within-a-primary so that Rick Santorum is going to be denied his wish to get a clean shot at the front-runner." ...
... Update: Here's the New York Times election results page. ...
... Update 2: at about 8:55 pm ET, NBC News projected Rick Santorum as the winner in Alabama. Mississippi still too close to call. ...
... Update 3: at about 10:50 pm ET, NBC New projected Santorum as the winner in Mississippi.
New York Times: "Stocks climbed to new heights in part on rosy retail sales data on Tuesday, pushing the broad market to levels last seen in June 2008 and the Nasdaq composite index to close above the 3,000 milestone for the first time since 2000."
Yahoo News: "President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed to defend U.S. workers from unfair competition and bluntly warned China to play by the rules of global trade as he announced that the United States, the European Union and Japan were joining forces to bring a commercial dispute with Beijing to the World Trade Organization (WTO)." ...
... New York Times: "President Obama pledged on Tuesday that a thorough investigation would be conducted into the bloody rampage by an American soldier in Afghanistan."
New York Times: "The Obama administration is discussing whether to reduce American forces in Afghanistan by at least an additional 20,000 troops by 2013, reflecting a growing belief within the White House that the mission there has now reached the point of diminishing returns. Accelerating the withdrawal of United States forces has been under consideration for weeks by senior White House officials, but those discussions are now taking place in the context of two major setbacks to American efforts in Afghanistan — the killings on Sunday of Afghan civilians attributed to a United States Army staff sergeant and the violence touched off by burning of Korans last month by American troops."
New York Times: "Britain will add its voice to President Obama’s in discouraging an Israeli military strike on Iran when Prime Minister David Cameron begins a three-day visit [to the U.S.] this week, a senior British diplomat said Monday."
Reuters: "The Obama administration on Monday blocked a new law in Texas requiring voters to show photo identification before they can cast a ballot, citing a concern that it could harm Hispanic voters who lacked such documents. The law, which was approved in May 2011, required voters to show government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license, military identification card, birth certificate with a photo, current U.S. passport, or concealed handgun permit."
New York Times: "Rebekah Brooks, the formeToolsMeasureOptions [NYT typo??] Rupert Murdoch’s News International, was arrested early Tuesday on suspicion of obstruction of justice, according to a person with knowledge of the arrest. Her husband, Charlie, a decades-long friend of Prime Minister David Cameron from their days at Eton, was also arrested, the person said." Guardian story here.
Guardian: "Taliban militants opened fire on senior officials from the Afghan government and military at a memorial service for 16 civilians thought to have been shot dead in their homes by a US soldier.... Four members of the security forces were injured in the attack, but no one was killed, said Jawed Faisal, spokesman for the Kandahar provincial government."
AP: "Nitrate contamination of drinking water is a pervasive problem in California's agricultural heartland and is bound to intensify in the coming years, according to a University of California, Davis study released Tuesday. The study, ordered by the state Legislature, shows chemical fertilizers and livestock manure are the main source of nitrate contamination in groundwater for more than 1 million Californians in the Salinas Valley and parts of the Central Valley."
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Reader Comments (2)
Marie, thanks for your piece yesterday in the NYTX on Ross Douthat, who seems to be running a three-legged race with those who conflate religion with patriotism. I suggested to him that sane conservatives (who have pointed out that what is called conservatism today is anything but) like Andrew Sullivan and David Frum have publicly jumped ship (and today we see that Bob Dole told Arlen Specter that defecting to the Democrats was the correct move under the circumstances), and I wondered where in the headlong dash to Fantasyland Douthat might decouple from the crazy train of the ignorati. It will be fascinating to watch him squirm as he realizes that he's controlling none of their agenda (and that in fact the only people who read his column and agree with him are those who have no influence in the current bar fight that is the Republican Party).
Thanks for the column on Fish. I wasn't aware of the precise language Maher had used but suspected Fish was serving up another odorous plate of false equivalency.
Don't often respond to the Fish pieces (too much like shooting something in a barrel?) but sent this to the Times yesterday. It apparently got lost in the too-frequent west/east coast time warp and hasn't appeared. As you can see, it was the tribal thing that disturbed me most.
"A little hard for me to follow but let's see if I have your argument right.
You suggest the adoption of a single standard, that of morality, not fairness because fairness is only a weak virtue and morality, though not a virtue but a generic name for all virtues and their application, should override it. Furthermore, morality the way you present it is determined by the group to which you belong and to which you adhere. Then, you say, let the groups with differing values fight it out and let the strongest win.
Seems that has been the way of history for thousands of years. Your argument does have history on your side, Mr. Fish.
But I'm wondering if that means you really don't like the Bill of Rights, which were designed to protect the weak, or if you also eschew the common virtues like feeding the poor and visiting the sick or imprisoned. Of if oppression of any people or person is just fine with you as long as the oppressor proves to have the bigger stick.
We live in an age of Winner Take All politics, now financed by Supreme Court rulings that seem guided by your idea of morality. When most of the PAC money is on one side, "fairness" is indeed, as you describe it a "weak" virtue.
I would have to assume you like that, too......or that you wrote your column with your tongue thrust so hard to the side it actually penetrated your cheek."