The Spencerian

Off the Radar Trolls and Princesses Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Some new and exciting changes coming to the blog soon -- I can't wait.

# # # #

You know how much I love the New Yorker, so I was really sad to see that one of their staff writers got caught up in a scandal.

Jonah Lehrer has resigned from the the New Yorker.

The now-former staff writer made the news public in a statement from his publisher on Monday afternoon, shortly after an article in the online magazine Tablet reported that he had admitted making up quotes he attributed to Bob Dylan in his latest nonfiction book, Imagine, published earlier this year.

The discovery of the fabricated quotes came only weeks after Lehrer apologized last month for recycling some of his previous work—sometimes nearly verbatim—in his other work, including articles and blog posts.

What a shame.

# # # #

Where's a tea party freak when you need one.

Hospital grifter Rick Scott's ongoing legal challenges to his troubled legislative agenda is costing Florida taxpayers pretty close to a million dollars -- and it's only growing.

Challenges to laws sought by Scott to revamp the state's pension plans, require drug testing of welfare recipients and drastically alter the way teachers are paid were brought by the teachers' union, theAmerican Civil Liberties Union or other opposing organizations in 2011. But because of the appeals process, none of the cases is resolved yet, and the legal meter for the state is still running.

Look, I'm not naive -- I get that this is all part of how it's done.  But at some point, the leader of a state that has found itself in a considerable budget hole the last few years, needs to, well, lead.  And part of leadership is swallowing your losses and moving on.

What frustrates me is the heavy use of government resources from a guy who disdains government at every opportunity.  Complicit in this is the GOP-lead filibuster-proof legislature which passes these ridiculous, un-Constitutional laws to begin with. 

And yet their anti-government rhetoric seems to work... 

Wonder when guys like the hospital grifter -- and our crummy legislative "leaders" -- will finally get held accountable for their double-talk.

# # # #

Matt Taibbi is always good, and the other day he managed to find some recently churned stuff about old goofy racist Pat Buchanan:

We all know Pat Buchanan is a little crazy. We also know that he has a reputation for racially explosive rhetoric. He’s staked out this very territory before, in his last book, which hilariously had a chapter entitled, "The End of White America."

That amazing work contained lines like, "Whites may discover what it is like to ride in the back of the bus," and "Every New York cabby must know the odds, should he pick up a man of color at night." He even wrote wistfully of the segregation era, seeming to suggest it was a time that even nonwhite Americans should remember with fondness.

Back then, black and white lived apart, went to different schools and churches, played on different playgrounds, and went to different restaurants, bars, theaters, and soda fountains. But we shared a country and a culture. We were one nation. We were Americans.

Right, except for the fire hoses and the lynchings, there was unity then! A sense of collective purpose! Sure, we used black men as lab rats for syphilis experiments, but dammit, we were all in this thing together. As Americans!

Taibbi seems to think Buchanan is irrelevant to today's GOP, but I'm not so sure.  The reason Buchanan caught Taibbi's eye was his recent piece in TownHall.com on the end of the GOP:

Say goodbye to the Golden Land.

Asian-Americans voted 3-to-2 for Obama, black Americans 24-to-1. The Asian population in California and the nation is growing rapidly. The black population, 13 percent of the nation, is growing steadily.

Whites, already a minority in our two most populous states, will be less than half the U.S. population by 2041 and a minority in 10 states by 2020.

Consider now the Electoral College picture.

Of the seven mega-states, California, New York and Illinois appear lost to the GOP. Pennsylvania has not gone Republican since 1988. Ohio and Florida, both crucial, are now swing states. Whites have become a minority in Texas. When Texas goes, America goes.

This year could be the last hurrah.

The GOP must work harder to win Hispanic votes, we are told. But consider the home economics and self-interest of Hispanics.

# # # #

Hey, here you go: your keynote speaker for the Democratic Convention:

It's Mayor Juliàn Castro of San Antonio, Texas.

As a crusty old racist once said: ...When Texas goes, America goes... 

Looking forward to the Convention.

# # # #

Thought you could use a quick Finn and Emmy update.

The good news is, Finn fits into 12 month-old outfits now.  

He turns 3 months-old on Thursday.  

He's a big boy, which is totally fine.  Very different than his big sister -- all tall and arms and legs.  It takes a lot more to snuggle him.  But he does love to snuggle, so there's that. 

He is sleeping at night, is obviously growing, and he loves -- loves -- his sister.  

Emmy loves him, too.  She loves telling him jokes.  Her favorite jokes is "Are you an octopus?"  

There's no punch-line.  It's one you kind of have to think about, I guess.  Anyway, she talks and his eyes light up and he smiles and laughs.  They're going to be close, I can tell already.  

Emmy is good, too.  Her new thing is to discussing the differences between trolls and princesses.

"Princesses say, 'No thank you, I would not like another.'"  And she says it very nicely.

"Trolls say, "I'm not going to share!'" And she has a troll voice.  Given my love of all things troll (the old-school Nordic kind, not the little guys with weird hair), this is a proud and happy moment for me.  

 -- More later -- 

Contempt of You: Buchanan Bails on His Own Deposition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

 

Thug Congressman Vern Buchanan, who is so far gone down the corruption worm-hole and has so many investigations ongoing into his clearly unethical personal and campaign finance dealings, it is getting hard to link to all of it in any one blog post, decided to give Lady Justice a big eff you today by failing to show up for a court deposition in Orlando.

 

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan did not appear for a scheduled court deposition in Orlando on Monday, prompting an angry response from the opposing attorney who said the three-term congressman should be held in contempt of court.

“He blew it off,” said Robert Stok, an attorney representing Buchanan’s former business partner, Sam Kazran, who is suing the congressman in Sarasota County.

Here's a fun exercise.  Next time you fail to show up at a court-scheduled appearance, see what happens.  Good luck with that.

My favorite was Buchanan's spokesperson:

“Vern Buchanan was available today and he will be ready again when the deposition is rescheduled,” said Sally Tibbetts, Buchanan’s campaign spokeswoman.

Well, Sally, if Vern was available today, why in the hell didn't he show?  

They said his lawyer was sick.  This is tantamount to Bill Gates saying he doesn't have enough change to feed the parking meter.  If you think Vern's got one lawyer, you haven't been paying attention.  Remember: more ongoing investigations than you can shake a stick at.  

This guy has an army of lawyers, and you can bet he needs them. 

Vern is tipping his hand.  He won't show up at a court-appointed deposition without his lawyer, but he'll be all too happy to go to Dick Vitale's place for a fundraiser:

He was also scheduled to attend a private fundraiser for his re-election campaign Monday night in Lakewood Ranch. Television basketball commentator Dick Vitale was set to host the $250-per-person fundraiser starting at 5:30 p.m.

Fabulous, baby!  

Look, every politician needs to raise money -- even one of the wealthiest.

But this is Vern Buchanan flicking a big, nasty booger, right on the justice system -- and, in a way, right on you.  You think you'd be able to get away with calling in sick to a deposition like that?  Seriously?  And then go to a $250-a-plate fundraiser that night?  

It's time to stop this madness.

You need to go support one of the good guys.  Today.

Help Keith Fitzgerald beat this crook.   

Chick-Fil-A and the Sixth King of Babylon

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Earlier today it was reported that Don Perry, the vice president for public relations at Chick-Fil-A, died.  He was deeply involved in with the media firestorm caused by CEO Dan Cathy's comments about marriage equality.

As a fellow public relations professional -- albeit on a totally different, much smaller scale -- I offer my condolences to Mr. Perry's family.  It would be easy to make a snarky comment now, or take a shot at Mr. Perry, Mr. Cathy, or Chick-Fil-A.  I won't.  

Here's why.

# # # # 

In the year 1735 BC, the fifth King of Babylon valiantly repelled the army of Ur and made his way downriver to the city of Isin.  Less than eight years later, he would abdicate the throne and turn over the reign of the most powerful city in the world to his son.

Hammurabi, the sixth King of Babylon, and the first man in history to write a set of laws -- what is called the Code of Hammurabi -- aggressively expanded the reach of Babylon for a reign of fifty glorious years.  He ruled more than a dozen major cities from Ur and Lagash to north beyond Babylon, along the mightiest river known to man, to Mari.  That river, by the way, was then, as it is today, called the Euphrates.  It runs through the middle of the country you know as Iraq.  

Today, most people associate the phrase "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" with the Code of Hammurabi.  Nonetheless, Hammurabi's Code also happens to be the earliest incarnation of what we call "The Golden Rule."

# # # #

While it is true that versions of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," have been found in ancient Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, and Tamil texts, my favorite version, at least today, happens to come from the Berenstain Bears.

Yes, those Berenstain Bears.  Yes, this is the book you get at Chick-Fil-A when you get a kid's meal. 

Yes, I'm going to decline to discuss the details of how this book came into my possession.  

I will say that as I read this to Emeline tonight, I was grateful for so many things.  

My beautiful family, for starters.  

That Emeline loves to read -- she loves it.  This brings me joy beyond description.  

That she seemed to understand the message of this book, right out of the gate.  

That the book itself would challenge me to practice the Golden Rule myself.  We'll see how I do.

# # # #

Early last week, the CEO of Chick-Fil-A, a man named Dan Cathy, affirmed to the Baptist Press that he was "guilty as charged," with respect to the support of his company for what was characterized as "the traditional family."

"We are very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.

"We operate as a family business ... our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that," Cathy emphasized.

Although Mr. Cathy never refers to gay marriage, his reference is only an affirmation of his company's previous declarations about gay marriage.  Indeed, his words reflect their robust action with respect to anti-gay causes.  

According to Equality Matters, Chick-Fil-A gave nearly $2 million to anti-gay groups in 2010. 

I don't like that.  I.  Do not.  Like that.  

At all.  

Not only do I not like it, I will actively work against it.  I will speak out against it, if only on this poor blog.  And I will vote at the ballot box, and I will vote with my dollars.  

I am not one who is strong behind the notion of boycotts -- where, and with what issue do you stop?  I'll be growing my own food and sewing my own home-made clothes before it's all said and done, and though I know people who do that and can do that, I certainly cannot.

# # # #

Mr. Cathy is not just on the wrong side of public policy (being debated in interesting fasion by America's big city mayors right now), he's on the wrong side of history.

Most of all, he's on the wrong side of Hammurabi.  

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  

Very well.  I respect Mr. Cathy's right to run a business based on Christian principles.  Though I fail to see which Christian principles call for the abject marginalizing and shameful discrimination of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, if this is his interpretation of the teachings of Christ, so be it.  Perhaps a teacher and a theologian can educate me, a man woefully short in the Scripture department.  

Inside the book is a generic letter from Mr. Cathy, alongside his picture.  His message is something innocuous, generic.  It's all stamped in black ink, easily done, book after book.  But it makes you wonder: Did Dan Cathy look at this particular book before approving it to go into the kid's meals?  If he did, did he even think about what it meant?

Hammurabi understood -- as did global generation after generation for millennium -- what my two year-old daughter is understanding tonight, thanks to the Berenstain Bears.  And indeed, thanks, in a messed up kind of way, to Chick-Fil-A. 

We must treat each other with kindness, with decency, with the goodness with which we'd like to be treated.  We must treat each other equally.

We must treat each other as equals, the way we would like to be treated.  All of us.

All.  Of.  Us.

And I will spend every day of the rest of my life teaching that lesson to my son and my daughter.  I will work hard.  Very hard.  And if she gets books -- a million books -- from places whose policies and leaders I disagree with, all the better, for I will work that much harder.  

It will give us all a chance to practice the golden rule.  Hammurabi -- and the Berenstain Bears -- would be proud.

Shambles: Team Romney is Failure to Launch on Overseas Excursion

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I'm quite sure it seemed like a good idea on the drawing board at Romney Headquarters.  We'll send Mitt out of the country to a handful of important, but friendly countries to showcase his gravitas as a Statesman-in-waiting, highlight the bona fides afforded a wealthy world traveler, and -- to underlie all of it it -- accent the need for a president who is, um, "more American".

Sure, come on.  How hard can it be?  I mean, it's only three countries, for crying out loud.  What could possibly go wrong in the U.K., Poland and Israel?  

Of course, this trip, timed to within the week of President Obama's 2008 campaign world trip in which he received a hero's welcome, was doomed at the outset for a number of reasons.  In the first instance, Mitt himself explains why:

“I am an unapologetic believer in the greatness of this country,” he said at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention. “I am not ashamed of American power. I believe our country is the greatest force for good the world has ever known…and I am guided by one overwhelming conviction and passion: this century must be an American Century.”

It's all well and good to say "this century must be an American Century" to a crowd of veterans here at home.  But if you're going to thump your chest about American power and bloviate about our century (whatever that means), at least have the decency not to be surprised when other countries don't welcome you with the most open of arms.  Presumably this "American Century" is a mutually exclusive one, as any "unapologetic believer" might say, and it should go without saying that our global friends from Europe to Africa to Asia to South America would take exception to that characterization.  

If you are less inclined to accept that framework, then please believe that our global enemies sure do.

The second failure of Team Romney's foray into global affairs is the itinerary, as pointed out by Peter Beinart at the Daily Beast:

If Romney is going to England so he can pretend it’s 1941, he’s going to Poland so he can pretend it’s 1981. He’s going at the invitation of Lech Walesa, the former trade-union activist who won the Nobel Prize in 1983 for his struggle against communist oppression. In Poland, according to advisers, Romney will visit sites of “historical significance” and highlight an alliance “rich in history.”

This history allows Romney to audition for the role every Republican presidential candidate has been trying to play since the Cold War’s end: Ronald Reagan. 

Mr. Beinart is too kind to point out the other reason why Governor and Mrs. Romney are stopping in London.  Jon Ponder at Pensito Review has no such reservations: it is to see the dressage horse Mrs. Romney owns take part in the Olympic Games.

Israel is also on the list.  Romney worked with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Boston Consulting Group a long time ago.  This stop appears to be a tired set we've already seen.. kind of like Mitt himself.  As both Beinart and John Cassidy at The New Yorker rightly allude to, what about Egypt?  Tunisia?  What about China?  What about India?  Indonesia?  Morocco?  What about South Africa?     

The third reason this trip was doomed was simply a spectacular failure to launch.  It was a failure to control the message going out the door, and it is not clear the Romney Campaign has the capacity to regain control, an order made all the more tall given that the trip has already begun.

Which leads us to how the Romney Campaign got here.  

It started with a criticism of the Obama Administration, offered by Romney himself at a fundraiser.  What made it so interesting was the source of the criticism cited by Romney: the Australian foreign minister, a man named Bob Carr.  

At a fundraiser Sunday night in San Francisco, Romney recounted his version of a conversation he had earlier in the day with Bob Carr, the Australian foreign minister. Romney claimed that Carr had told him in their private meeting that America was “in decline,” but that the situation could be turned around if an appropriate budget deal is reached.

A remarkable statement from someone very high in the leadership of an ally nation.

Problem was, it is completely untrue:

Carr took issue with Romney’s characterization of the events, insisting that the former Massachusetts governor got it backward. He said in a statement released by the Embassy of Australia that “his remark that ‘America is just one budget deal away from ending all talk of America being in decline’ was in praise of America’s economic strengths.”

Creating something of an international stir, and Australia isn't even on the itinerary.

Then things got worse.  Just yesterday, the U.K. Telegraph reported this from a Romney adviser:

In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.

That prompted an awkward walk-back from Romney himself -- disavowing his own adviser in order to cover his tracks:

"It goes back to our very beginnings -- cultural and historical. But I also believe the president understands that. So I don't agree with whoever that adviser might be, but do agree that we have a very common bond between ourselves and Great Britain," the former Massachusetts governor said.

Back-to-back gaffes at the outset of an international trip designed to make you look "Reaganesque" is bad enough.  But Romney has now gone for the trifecta, criticizing the British as they prepare to host the Olympic Games:

Romney expressed wariness over England’s ability to pull off the Olympics without a hitch, as well as reservations over security.

“You know, it’s hard to know just how well it were turn out — will turn out,” said Romney, who ran the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. “There are a few things that were disconcerting, the stories about the — private security firm not having enough people — the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging.”

These comments prompted a terse response from an obviously angry Prime Minister David Cameron:

Cameron rebuffed Romney’s criticism during a visit to the Olympic Park in Stratford Thursday morning, according to The Telegraph. “You’re going to see beyond doubt that Britain can deliver,” Cameron said.

Romney told NBC that Britains would have to unite in order to make the Olympic Games successful. “Do they come together and celebrate the Olympic moment?” Romney said. “And that’s something which we only find out once the games actually begin.”

Cameron addressed that critique head on. “In terms of people coming together, the torch relay demonstrated that this is not a London Games, this is not an England Games but this is a United Kingdom Games,” Cameron said. “We’ll show the world we’ve not only come together as a United Kingdom but are extremely good at welcoming people from across the world.”

Cameron also chose to include this dig at Romney's Salt Lake City Olympics background:  “We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world.  Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”

Well, I can certainly feel the "special relationship" in all its Anglo-Saxon-ey charm and warmth.  Can't you?  

As it happens, Mitt Romney does not corner the market on believing in "the greatness of this country."  Nor do Republicans.  I do, too.  And I'll bet you do as well.

But I'm not blind to the geo-political problems our beloved country has faced in the past... and the ones we still face going forward.  Even with our friends, the craft of diplomacy and international relations is just that: a craft.  And it is one to be respected and taken seriously. 

Boasting about American power and then criticizing our global partners in their own country goes beyond tone deaf.  It is dangerous.

Mitt Romney has pilfered Henry Luce's phrase about the "American Century" for his own gain.  What is most interesting about Romney's (over)use of the phrase is that Mr. Luce meant it for a time that ended around twelve years ago.  This is the 21st Century, a new century, a new millennium! 

In his essay, Mr. Luce spoke of "a passionate devotion to great American ideals," and we must remain devoted to our great ideals.  But he also spoke of something larger than that:

In addition to ideals and notions which are especially American, we are the inheritors of all the great principles of Western civilization - above all Justice, the love of Truth, the ideal of Charity.

... 

For the moment it may be enough to be the sanctuary of these ideals. But not for long. It now becomes our time to be the powerhouse from which the ideals spread throughout the world and do their mysterious work of lifting the life of mankind from the level of the beasts to what the Psalmist called a little lower than the angels.

Last century, sure.  But it was never more true today.  

One wonders if Mr. Romney will ever understand the work of how to spread those ideals and life the life of mankind.  Based on the rhetoric of his first overseas trip of his campaign, I'm not hopeful.

Into the Echo Chamber: Freedom

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Matt --

If you're like me, you spent a lot of this weekend hugging your wife and kids.

It's not that the horrifying massacre in Aurora, Colorado is out-of-bounds for politics.  But it does wipe the slate clean -- there's an Etch-a-Sketch joke in here, I'm afraid -- of all other issues in which we have happily been immersing ourselves.  When I look at the Spencerian Blue feed, it gets quiet over the course of this weekend, fills up with stuff about the shooting around the end of last Friday, and that's about it.  Bain stuff is nowhere to be seen in the last couple of days.  Off-shore accounts are nowhere to be seen.

As you know, the president was in Florida when news of the shooting broke, and he left after making a statement.  Everyone agrees that was the right thing to do -- campaigning is for another day.   Still, it may feel a bit odd to have a discussion this week in the framework of two campaigns.  However, what these two campaigns say about what happened in Aurora at the Dark Knight Rises premiere matters.  And it may well affect the trajectory of the rest of the election.   Indeed, I would argue if this isn't the week to do what we're doing, then why do it at all?

As you also know, there is an often uncomfortable truth about politics: it is frequently as much about the reaction to events entirely out of control of the candidates as it is about framing themselves or each other.

Will Team Obama be able to go back to asking Romney to release his tax returns?   Maybe.  But when?  Not any time real soon.

And do they even want to?

I would guess that this week will be consumed in large part by events in Colorado.  There will be agonizing funerals filled with sorrow beyond measure.  Guns will come up.  Mental health issues -- and how we treat people with severe illness, and their access to care -- will come up.  A lot of it will be worthwhile discussion, even beyond the political arena.  A lot of it will not, I'm sorry to say.

It's moments like these when people look to our leaders for comfort, for guidance, for just a little bit of sense in a thing that is utterly senseless.  How will Obama do this?  I'm not sure yet.  And so I am leaving you with two things, Matt.  One is a prompt to visit the White House website.  Today, they have the four different banner slides at the top.  Here's what they are:

1. A picture of Obama and a link to his weekly address to the nation on the tragedy in Colorado
2. A link to the text of his statement on the tragedy in Colorado
3. A genuinely lovely, up-close picture of he and Mrs. Obama (they're at the USA basketball game, but it's all about the image...)

The next one if four simple words, Matt, and when you see it, I think you'll get the idea of just where they may be going, what they may be dovetailing:

4. Middle Class Tax Cuts

Matt, my history with faith and religion has taken a lot of dreary twists and turns, and long suffered through my deserts of ignorance.   However, two bright spots: one, attending the Unitarian Universalist Church with Duncan a few years ago, which we plan on going back to some day soon.  This makes me happy.  Two, I read a couple of books on Buddhism some time ago, and I won't pretend to fully understand it, but I can tell you that many of the words of the Buddha are some of the most profound -- and comforting -- you'll read.

Prayer for Freedom From Suffering

May all beings everywhere plagued
with sufferings of body and mind
quickly be freed from their illnesses.
May those frightened cease to be afraid,
and may those bound be free.
May the powerless find power,
and may people think of befriending
one another.
May those who find themselves in trackless,
fearful wilderness--
the children, the aged, the unprotected --
be guarded by beneficent celestials,
and may they swiftly attain Buddhahood.

-- The Buddha

Go hug Erin and the boys again.

Best,

BJK

# # # #

Monday, July 23, 2012

Ben -

So many things to respond to...   Let me begin by saying that the thing in Colorado was horrible and any attempt to divine meaning from a senseless tragedy like this is doomed to fail.  Like you, I held my family a little closer this weekend - and totally ignored the political world.  But there is a sad reality in all of it...  Nothing of substance will come of this.  We are too far into the campaign season for either guy to stick their neck out.  Too many of the swing states are perceived as pro-gun - and the NRA has done such a magnificent job of hijacking that issue that it isn't even possible to make rational statements like "there's no legitimate civilian use for an AR-15 assault rifle, why should we sell them at sporting goods stores?".  The dude bought it at a freaking Gander Mountain.  It isn't like he had to go black market for it...

Anyway, as I said I don't see anything coming of this politically and as callous as it seems, I would bet you that it is totally off the radar of the political world within two weeks (and only hangs around that long due to the timing of funerals).  As if to prove the point, the campaigns were right back at it on Monday morning.  My feed was all abuzz that it was David Axelrod who jumped in first.  Let's just say it didn't take long for my feed to go right back to attacking Obama on "you didn't build this" as soon as there was the slightest justification.  No, it was too good of a line of attack, too good of a rallying cry to let a little massacre stop it.

The other theme in my feed today is the sputtering economy - which is entirely Obama's fault and could have been avoided had he only been meeting more regularly with his jobs council. Or something.

I have to say, I do not think I am going to have a lot of patience for the partisan potshots this week.  That sad loop of campaign parry and thrust will be there when I am ready for it.  Maybe I am an exception, but I am just not interested in political bickering and point scoring right now.  Not that I want to dwell on Aurora.  I very much do not.  I am just sick of seeing stuff like this, like so many other things, happen without the ability to have an honest dialogue.  The reason we can't, as a nation, have an honest dialogue is because some political hack is always looking to score political points and it makes politicians and their staff terrified to say anything controversial, to step outside of orthodoxy for a minute.  So when something tragic occurs, instead of digging deep and learning, we dig deep to bury our heads. And when we emerge, nothing changes.

I do have to say, I appreciated your prayer.  When taking graduate coursework at Notre Dame, I took a class that compared and examined Buddhist meditation and Christian contemplative prayer.  It was fascinating - and I learned quite a bit about Buddhism.  The freedom of mind and spirit that can be achieved through that type of prayer - just like your prayer mentions - can be quite powerful and illuminating.  For me, I always come back to the 23rd Psalm.  A priest friend asked me to memorize it once and learning it, repeating it, spending time with it brought me peace in a time of personal turmoil.  So for everyone out there examining things beyond politics this week, I give you the following:

The Lord is my shepherd,
There is nothing I lack.

In green pastures he makes me lie down;
To still waters he leads me;
He restores my soul.

He guides me along right paths for the sake of his name.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death;
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You set a table before me
In front of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil,
My cup overflows.

Indeed, goodness and mercy will pursue me,
All the days of my life;
I will dwell in the house of the Lord for endless days.

I have to say, there is no doubt my cup overflows.  As for the families of the victims, I offer the words of Saint Paul in Romans, chapter 8, verses 38 and 39.  

Peace,

MBS

# # # #

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Matt --

Like you, I am not exactly channeling my inner David Axelrod this week.  Of course, Axe himself has been somewhat silent in the Spencerian Blue feed by my accounting.

But you know who hasn't?

The Vice President.

Somewhere amid our VP chatter of last week, I mentioned Joe Biden bringing "balance" to the ticket, especially with regards to foreign policy (which seems odd now in light of how much Obama has done in the foreign policy realm).  Well, it would appear they are still using your old Uncle Joe for just that: foreign policy credibility.

Why?  Because Romney is on his way to several countries around the world -- to show his ostensible foreign policy chops, I guess.  Of course, the man has already made his first gaffe with the Australians-- most notably because Australia is not even a country he's going to visit on this trip.  (Josh Marshall, who has been doing some of the best reporting of the campaign at his Talking Points Memo has a better take here.)  At any rate, Vice President Biden has been out front on Romney's travel, hammering him pretty good at the Veteran's of Foreign Wars convention, and on the Twitter feed for sure.

This trip has the potential to be a catastrophe for Romney.  First of all, Romney has little foreign policy experience.  Virtually none, in fact.  And the little foreign travel he has done is either connected directly to his Mormon faith (obviously played down by the campaign) and the missionary nature of their religion, or his time at Bain Capital, when he developed a lot of business in... South America.  Won't a foreign trip designed to boost your credibility on the world stage actually just remind everyone of what you've been trying to get them to forget over the last two months: that you parked a shit-ton of cash in off-shore bank accounts across the globe to avoid paying taxes.

Two, there's the real potential for gaffes or even outright humiliations for Romney, who admittedly is downplaying this trip somewhat.  I don't think he can do much damage in the U.K, or Poland for that matter (though Poland is only a Belarus and Ukraine away from our "number one geopolitical foe," Russia!).  He's going to visit Israel, and things there are complicated and sensitive.  At best.

If I'm being realistic, I don't really think Romney will screw it up.  But he is going to be gone -- effectively off the campaign trail.

Now, I know I just said on Sunday that it'll take a week or so before either side gets back into the swing of things on the campaign, but it looks like they're going to try to get things rolling again, anyway. The Obama folks are back with not only strong criticisms of Romney and his weaknesses with respect to foreign policy, they're back defending the "you didn't build that" thing -- which you said would be a tough one, and maybe it has been.

I suspect the Obama folks are as happy as can be that Romney is going overseas.  This allows them to fill the messaging vacuum he'll leave behind.  And they'll fill it.  And then some.

So here's your prompt, if you're up for it.  How will the Spencerian Red side bolster the Romney trip, if at all?  Or will it be back to full-throttle attacks on Obama by week's end?

The echo chamber's not always a pretty place, but it's the place we know.

Back to you.

BJK

# # # #

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Matt --

I fully realize I'm messing around with our Red-Blue-Red-Blue back and forth by going out of turn, but this is a good update to what I sent you last night.

The statement out of the White House today was regarding Romney's foreign trip.

You know who it was from?  Not POTUS.

Vice President Biden.

It's like they're monitoring our emails.

Now, granted, a lot of this is in response to a Romney adviser saying this, via Think Progress:

In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have.”

In my previous email, I said, "This trip has the potential to be a catastrophe for Romney."  I sort of regretted writing that at the time, because I thought I was overstating it a bit.

I no longer regret my choice of words.  The guy has given us two gaffes and he's not even wheel's up yet.

Of course, the Vice President's response was well-crafted, and played up the idea that Washington has somehow been cold to our friends in the U.K. -- didn't "fully appreciate the shared history we have," whatever the fuck that means.

The full statement of the VP is worth reading:

“Despite his promises that politics stops at the water’s edge, Governor Romney’s wheels hadn’t even touched down in London before his advisors were reportedly playing politics with international diplomacy, attempting to create daylight between the United States and the United Kingdom where none exists.  Our special relationship with the British is stronger than ever and we are proud to work hand-in-hand with Prime Minister Cameron to confront every major national security challenge we face today.  On every major issue -- from Afghanistan to missile defense, from the fight against international terrorism to our success in isolating countries like Iran whose nuclear programs threaten peace and stability -- we’ve never been more in sync.  The comments reported this morning are a disturbing start to a trip designed to demonstrate Governor Romney’s readiness to represent the United States on the world’s stage.  Not surprisingly, this is just another feeble attempt by the Romney campaign to score political points at the expense of this critical partnership.  This assertion is beneath a presidential campaign.”

Watch for more.  I have a feeling the VP may just be getting warmed up.

Best,

BJK

# # # #

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Ben -

The #youdidntbuildthat furor has only gotten louder on the Spencerian Red feed this week.   Small business owners from around the country are joining Team Romney for events.  This may not be Dukakis on a tank, but I think the jury is still out just how bad this will be for Obama.  At the very least it is ugly for POTUS in the short term and I think it ties in with the Romney trip overseas in a weird way.  You see, this is just a literal exemplification of the GOP strategy: keep Mitt out of it and relentlessly attack Obama as bad on the economy, bad for the middle class and anti-business.  It is actually easier with the Mittbot out of the country and out of the way.

The silliness of the foreign policy attacks are another matter.  Team Romney does not really have a frontal attack of Obama in the foreign policy arena, so they gin up mini-controversies like "I can't believe the White House leaks things for political gain!!!!!  That has never been done!!!!!" and "Obama didn't visit Israel in his first term, so he must be a bad partner (don't ask what policies make that true, just know he hasn't been there as President)" and the most recent one - "my special feelings toward the UK are more special than your special feelings".  If those are your big three punches, you might as well throw in the towel.  I have written about this before, I think that the GOP has totally lost control of the foreign policy message.  Those three lines will certainly not win it back.

One more theme in the @SpencerianRed feed is a recent Gallup poll on voter enthusiasm. Says its up for Republicans and down for Dems.  If this holds until Novemeber it could be a bad sign.  However, I think that every article concerning this topic should begin eight his caveat: "Despite Mitt Romney topping the ticket...."

Finally, to answer your question about how the Spencerian Red feed will handle the Romney foreign trip.  I think they will largely ignore it.  What possible strong narrative can they build off a trip to The UK, Poland and Israel?   They will go for death by 1000 paper cuts using the issues I covered above, but there is not much else to do.  Any other line of attack veers a little too close to reigniting the offshore/Swiss bank account storyline that is an absolute loser for them...   By the way, do you think anyone in Chicago is mapping out the travel route from London to Warsaw and plugging in distance to Zurich and Geneva?  I bet they are...

I have added a few new follows to spice up my feed:

@RNCResearch

@Timodc (RNC spox)

@Heritage (Foundation)

They should add a little fun to the mix.

My final question for you this week: Is there a real, legitimate option for Romney VP that does anything to burnish his foreign policy cred?  If he jacks up this trip and this narrative, do they need to widen their search parameters to find one?  Can they really cede the entire issue of foreign policy and count on the economy to carry them through?

I built this @SpencerianRed feed!

MBS

# # # #

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Matt --

I saw a tweet the other day -- may have been outside the Spencerian Blue feed, though -- and someone noted that this is the first election in many, many cycles (think Hoover versus Roosevelt) when a military veteran hasn't been on one side or the other at the top of the ticket.

I suppose I subscribe to the general conventional wisdom that foreign policy won't matter much in this election, but I don't know.  With the war in Iraq wound down, and the one in Afghanistan winding down, our international priorities are changing, too.  The face of national security is necessarily changing.  The American public says it does care very much about that stuff... until it does.   Somewhere in the back of the mind of even the most ill-informed voter is what is happening on the world stage.  Our global community is just too small now.

And with that, I accept your challenge, because I do suspect the Romney people are interested in a strong person who could blunt the sort of quiet sharpness of the Obama foreign policy juggernaut (lead by the corpse of Osama bin Laden).

Indeed, I can think of a Republican who would bolster the Romney Campaign's foreign policy credibility, by a factor of infinity.

Let's draw that person, shall we?  A veteran, of course.  A war time veteran, even better.  A war time hero, best yet.  From a long-serving military family.  A man who has a lot of that other stuff we talked about, too -- Washington "street cred," as it were.  A man who, by virtue of what he's done in the past, is readily seen as able to step up and serve as President should something happen to a President Romney.

That man exists.

Matthew, I give you: Senator John McCain.

It's the only name that gives me worse chills than Haley Barbour.

And don't give me the age thing, because to that I say: Dick Cheney.  And don't give me the he already ran against the Obama/Biden team and lost.  True, but that's what makes him qualified to be president.  He's run for office and snagged the nomination before.

I know, I know.  Out there.  But it has been an out there week, I think, and I figured, why not?

Because I butted in so rudely before, I'll let you have the last word this week, if you like.

BJK

# # # #

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Ben -

How very gentlemanly of you to offer the last word.   Since I am never, ever short of opinions, I will gladly take it.

No way McCain gets the nod.  I just don't see how another unreliable moderate Republican will fly with the current GOP.  If I was part of the Team Romney VP selection group, my selection criteria would be this (in order):

• Cultural Conservative
• Disciplined
• Christian - preferably evangelical
• DC connected
• Fiscal Conservative
• Foreign Policy Experience

In a way, I think that I just refuted my own argument about the importance of foreign policy.  It will make the final debate very interesting, as it is theoretically supposed to focus on foreign policy.  My guess is that we will see quite a bit of non-answering and pivoting security/military questions to economic ones.  Romney has no chance for a Brandenburg Gate moment like Obama's in 2008, so there really is no game changer for him.

Unless something big happens, I just do not see an emphasis on foreign policy.  On the other hand, if the economy continues to stagnate and Chicago feels as though they are falling behind, we just might see that Osama bin Laden "third eye" photo pop up sometime in September or October.

To round back to the VP discussion, there is only one way that Romney can take some ground in the foreign policy arena - and that is through the VP. As mentioned above, I just do not see that happening in this cycle UNLESS there is a homerun, bust the light tower, end of The Natural moment to be had with a surprise pick.  And there is.  This candidate fits your McCain mold, but is much, much better from the Team Romney perspective.  I will trump your suggestions with one that will certainly give you more nightmares than McCain or Barbour....  Are you ready for a Romney trump card/jackpot selection?

Colin Powell.

Boom goes the dynamite.

Enjoy your weekend of cold sweats and night terrors about that possibility.

Oh, and my best to the wife and kids.

Matt

# # # #

Welcome to Into the Echo Chamber, the weekly electronic conversation of the 2012 presidential campaign as viewed from two Twitter feeds.  Matt Spence is monitoring the Twitterverse of the Romney Campaign, Republicans, and the "red" side of the aisle at @SpencerianRed.  I am monitoring the tweets of the Obama Team, Democrats using @SpencerianBlue.  Our email-based back-and-forths are posted here on Thursdays.  

You are, as always, invited to join the discussion, either in the comments below or by emailing Spencerian Red or Spencerian Blue.

Almost Friday Mother Nature Taking Over Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Evidently, former Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer, currently awaiting trial on fraud charges, is calling some current leaders of the party "whack-a-do, right-wing crazies."

This would be a bigger deal if... we didn't already know it.  He also apparently has claimed "some GOP leaders were looking for ways to suppress black votes."

Really.  You don't freakin' say.

Thanks a lot, hospital grifter.

As for you, Jim Greer, I realize it probably feels good to try and torpedo state Republicans just a few weeks before the big Convention here in the Tampa Bay area.  But I'll tell you this: Whack-a-do right wing crazies?  Suppressing the black vote?  Dude, you're a day late and a dollar short.  

# # # #

Also in the day-late-dollar-short category is this item from the Miami Herald's Naked Politics blog: Report claims Florida lawmakers do bidding of corporate-funded ALEC

Some of the most controversial bills introduced recently in the Florida Legislature were thought up by out-of-state corporate interests with financial motives, according to a report released Thursday by a two national watchdog groups and Progress Florida. The report says the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is a shadowy force exerting an uncanny amount of power over Florida’s lawmaking process.

ALEC advances so-called “model bills” on items like public education, immigration, labor issues, healthcare, gun rights and voter rights. Replicas of those business-friendly bills often end up in legislation sponsored by Florida lawmakers who are ALEC members, the report found.

Hey, Miami Herald?  February called.  It wants it's news back.

In late January, State Representative Rachel “Love Outlaw” Burgin (now a candidate for the State Senate, naturally) introduced a bill in the Florida Legislature which managed to retain the ALEC mission statement at the top.

Look, I appreciate the report on the sinister influence of ALEC in our state legislature as much as the next guy -- I really do.  (You can download the report here, PDF.)  It came from a lot of good people, like Progress Florida, Florida Watch, People For the American Way, Center For Media & Democracy, and Common Cause.

But our legislators are literally cutting-and-pasting legislation drafted by people at ALEC.  Rachel Burgin did it last session.  

I already know the legislation in my state is influenced by the crooks at ALEC.  Tell us how we stop it.

# # # #

I strongly encourage you to read the latest in the Gulfport Gabber on crime and 49th Street.  What you'll see are some growing fissures between the City of St. Petersburg, to our east, and my City of Gulfport.  

In a response to a resident’s concerns that the city of St. Petersburg too quickly pointed fingers at Gulfport police officers in a recent pursuit, St. Petersburg Councilman Wengay Newton called Gulfport residents “customers” in the drug trade on 49th Street.

“Speaking of crime along 49th Street and Child's Park Neighborhood,” Vice Chair Newton wrote, “Gulfportians are customers not victims [...] Supply and demand.”

“He’s likely referring to the position that law enforcement should target demand rather than supply. It’s probably true that the demand comes from somewhere other than that neighborhood, but to say that it comes from Gulfport? I haven’t seen any evidence of that,” Gulfport Chief of Police Rob Vincent said.

With due respect to Councilman Newton, I not only disagree, but I submit to you that this is absolutely not the way to address the problem of crime and drugs on 49th Street, the long eastern boundary between St. Petersburg and Gulfport.  One city leader blaming another city for crime?  This is ridiculous notion for many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I can promise you, Councilman Newton and just about everyone else that the folks perpetrating crimes on 49th Street don't care if they're on the Gulfport side or the St. Petersburg side of the street.

Mostly I find this approach -- finger-wagging, really -- unconstructive and uncreative.  And 49th Street is a problem that requires constructive dialogue and not a little bit of creativity -- and yes, resources.  

On her must-read blog, Cathy Salustri -- who works at the Gabber, wrote that piece above, and which is more the journalism piece and less the opinion stuff -- calls out Councilman Newton, and it is really quite something (keep in mind, the whole thing is a bit tongue-in-cheek, which is part of what makes it so great):

I really am relieved that you spoke up about this whole crime on 49th Street thing. I’ll be honest, in my more ignorant days (before you told it like it is), I didn’t much care for the man in charge of St. Petersburg’s community enrichment, Goliath Davis. He seemed to be a gatekeeper, a black man who said he stood for what was going to help the black community but instead kept them oppressed and distanced from government. Maybe I was wrong, but I’m glad to see you’ve stepped in to take care of the poor black communities that – last I heard – were crying for help. I’m glad you’re there and instead of talking about getting better role models in front of fatherless black children or helping single moms in Childs Park find safe places for their children to congregate, you’re talking about how it’s Gulfport’s fault. I’m especially grateful you’re not supporting any initiatives that would give stiffer penalties to landlords who rent to convicted drug dealers, and I’m so damn happy that you aren’t looking at using some of that extra tax money to create programs for young black kids to break the cycle that makes them feel like dealing is the only option.

I thought for so long the problem belonged to St. Petersburg. But now I see the error of my ways: Gulfport is clearly to blame for the poor choices St. Petersburg makes. It’s obvious to me, too, that you’re going to stand behind your residents. The people on your side of 49th Street need you. I’m so happy you can be there for them.

Just damn thrilled.

Kick ass, Cathy.  Keep up the great work.

# # # #

When they're standing in each other's way
You're tripping back now to places you've been to
You wonder what you're gonna find
You know you've been wrong but it won't be long
Before you leave 'em all far behind

It's almost Friday.

Special Relationships

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Anglo-Saxon civilization has taught the individual to protect his own rights; American civilization will teach him to respect the rights of others.

-- William Jennings Bryan

Hey, where da' white women at?

-- Sheriff Bart, Blazing Saddles

Look, here's the thing: everyone knew it would be hard for a wealthy, white Mormon to run against American's first black President.  

But this, really?

In remarks that may prompt accusations of racial insensitivity, one suggested that Mr Romney was better placed to understand the depth of ties between the two countries than Mr Obama, whose father was from Africa.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”

Wow, just... wow.  

If that adviser isn't fired by now, I give up.

Striking Distance: Fitzgerald Campaign Closing Fast on Buchanan

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Somewhere under a slimy rock, thug Congressman Vern Buchanan felt the heat crank up just a bit more: turns out Keith Fitzgerald is closing in on him, just eight points down according to a new Public Policy Polling (PPP) poll.  Download the memo with the findings here [PDF].  

Here are the fast facts, straight from PPP:

Rep. Vern Buchanan’s lead over Democratic challenger Keith Fitzgerald is eight points (44-36). 19% are still undecided with just over three months to go, making this a potentially tight race. This district leans slightly Republican, but with the incumbent’s campaign finance woes, this is definitely a winnable seat for Democrats.

Definitely a winnable seat for Democrats.

But there's only one way for that to happen -- you need to help Keith.  Today.  Even if you can't write a check, start telling the story.  Why?

Here's why:

Most of Buchanan’s lead is built on his significantly higher name recognition. Two-thirds of voters are either not sure how they feel about the Democrat or have not heard of him at all. Only a quarter of voters say the same of Buchanan. Those who do already know Fitzgerald are more likely to see him in a positive light than those who express a personal opinion on the Republican.  40% view Buchanan favorably, but almost as many (37%) unfavorably. The breakdown for Fitzgerald is 22-11. If he is able to close this gulf between his profile and Buchanan’s, Fitzgerald could make up serious ground.

In other words, if you know Vern, you don't much care for him.

But if he's all you know, then what's the point?  People need to get to know Keith, and that'll happen.  But like I said, he'll need your help.  Share the story of this dedicated public servant. 

Or head down to Sarasota and help them out on their campaign.  You could make the difference in this campaign -- and that's not just blowing smoke:

...Fitzgerald has a huge opportunity to define Buchanan and himself with a fifth of the electorate, more than enough to hurdle over Buchanan.  

In the wake of Keith's proposal for new transparency measures for Congress and candidates, this is a remarkable place for a challenger to be -- and it puts Vern in the hot seat.  Well, a hotter seat that he was before, given the IRS investigation, the FBI investigation, the grand jury, the House Ethics Commission, the newly reinstated civil case...

Support one of the good guys.  Support Keith Fitzgerald for Congress. 

 

Off the Radar Mess Around Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Someone asked me if I'd be doing a piece on gun control.  After the post about my obvious concern for my children in light of the Colorado movie theater massacre, it seemed to be a reasonable question.

My answer was a frustratingly dismissive, "no."  

My friend was a little taken aback my my answer. Why? Why not talk about gun control now?  If we don't talk about it now, we never will.

Sadly, I think my friend is missing the point.  See, I'm partial to talking about issues which are still open, still up for debate.  The gun issue has been closed for a long time.  

I've read a lot about this most recent tragedy, and the best thing I've seen summing up my feelings on the issue is a cartoon from Tom Tomorrow, who does This Modern World.  He did the one linked there after the shooting in Tucson, Arizona, but it is depressingly relevant today.  The good guy says:   

Look, we have the same conversation after every gun massacre.  I'm not going to change your mind and you're not going to change mine.  But relax!  Your paranoid political fantasies notwithstanding, no one's going to take your guns away.

Barring some seismic realignment in this country, the gun control debate is all but settled -- and your side won.  The occasional horrific civilian massacre is just the price the rest of us have to pay.  Over and over, apparently.

No one is going to have the debate about gun control.  No one's going to have the debate about gun control.  

It's a cartoon, but it speaks a hard truth.  The debate is over.  It's settled, and it is obvious that more killing isn't going to re-ignite the debate.  

The very best you can hope for is that you and your kids are safe and, let's face it, lucky when they go to the movie theater.  Or church.  Or high school.  Or college.  Or the Army base.  Or a party.  Or Luby's Cafeteria.  Or the Congress on your corner event...   

# # # #

The Fix is saying Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has finally jumped the shark.  Hm, ya' think?

It remains to be seen whether Bachmann has done enough to cause herself any problems in the November election. What she has done is torpedoed any political capital she might have had left over from her brief moment in the spotlight during the GOP presidential nominating contest last year.

It's a legitimate question -- her own race for re-election, and how has it been damaged -- I don't know what her opposition looks like, but I'd guess folks in the Minnesota 6th are getting pretty tired of having the shark-jumpin'-est Member of Congress.

# # # #

Speaking of embarrassing politicians, this from TPM is interesting on Texas Governor Rick Perry.  Mister Let's Secede! himself.

# # # #

Speaking of even more embarrassing politicians, file this one under "things you can never un-see"...

Seriously?  Barbed-wire arm tattoos?  Huh.

That's State Rep. Peter Nehr, a Republican incumbent in District 65, which is just up the road around Tarpon Springs, and north Pinellas.  

Per the Tampa Bay Times blurb linked above, these are evidently Representative Nehr's brag pictures.  He got his weight down, beat back diabetes.  Admirable things, to be sure.  

But my free advice to the Representative is, keep your shirt on.  And leave the camera out of the bathroom.  It's all looks very Anthony Weiner-esque...

Gross.

Also, take a memo, America: stop photographing yourself in the bathroom.  Not cool.  Not.  Cool.

# # # #

Also from Talking Points Memo, does anyone else think this is interesting?

That link is Florida (the embedding is messing up), and it's looking pretty steady in favor of Obama, don't you think?

I won't dig around for meaning, but after some early criss-crossing, you'd think Team Obama would have to feel pretty good about this.  

Everyone is talking about how close this election will be.  Well, it will be... until it isn't.  In other words, if the President can snag Florida again, like he did in '08, Pennsylvania -- which looks good for Obama right now -- and Ohio, which is another close one, but isn't bad, then you have to think he's well on his way to Term #2.

# # # # 

Please don't hate me, Stephanie Cutter.  You're the best.  

It had to be done.

-- More later -- 

Rhino On Air: They're Putting Me on the Radio

by Benjamin J. Kirby

If you get a chance, go find Rhino On Air -- it's an internet radio station -- and tune in around 5:00 pm EST today.  There's a show called Write At Five, hosted by R. Mona Leza and Daphne Taylor Street.

For some reason, these good people have decided to interview me.  I'll be talking about writing -- political and otherwise -- and if they let me, I may even get into some stuff about social media and non-profits, which is what I do for my paying gig (among other things).

So tune in at 5:00.  Should be fun.

For the Sake of My Babies, When Can We Start the Dialogue?

by Benjamin J. Kirby

It's days like today I hate having a political blog.  What can you say about the tragic shootings in Aurora, Colorado on a blog like this and not have it shrouded in the ugly veil of politics?  

I don't even know if you're supposed to say anything anymore, for fear of politicizing the tragedy, at the apparent expense of the victims and their families.  Now we can't talk about guns, because that's politicizing the tragedy.  You can't talk about the shooter or his obvious mental illness because speaking of him takes away, somehow, from our honoring his victims.  

Indeed, there are new rules and prescriptions of time around just about anything.  TV commentator Chris Hayes can't talk about whether dead soldiers should be called "heroes" or not on Memorial Day.  When Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was nearly killed by a gunman -- who went on to kill six others -- in 2011, I recall that despite the horror, despite the fear and sadness we all felt, there was still an underlying script we all had to follow.  And the script called for waiting a day or so before we could talk about guns without getting scolded by someone saying you were disrespecting the dead.

Of course, the script also calls for some idiot politician to say something stupid, and we weren't disappointed this time, either.  I don't know what dishonors the dead more: when our "leaders" use the tragedy to demonize those of differing faith traditions, or not waiting whatever the right amount of time is to bring up issues of public safety and public policy.  Maybe somebody smarter than me can weigh in. 

Well, I don't know what the script calls for this time.  I don't know.  

And I don't really care.

Because it's on days like that that all I can do is think about my two babies and their mother.  There was a baby in that movie theater in Aurora.  I noticed on Facebook earlier there were some parental scolds bringing up parenting skills.  Maybe we can tackle untreated mental illness and immediate access to rapid-fire mass killing machines before we get to Parenting 101.  

Yes, there were parents, and kids, and families.  Maybe most of those folks in there had a father who worried to the point it made him sick to his stomach that some day they'd walk into a movie theater expecting to check out of reality for a couple of hours, only to be faced with the harshest reality you can possibly know -- or worse.

I've talked about this before.  I want for my children a neverending lifetime of the kind of great joy and unbridled happiness they bring to me every single day.  I don't want them to know the horror of a movie theater gunman, to feel unsafe at a Congress-on-your-corner event, like the one Gabby Giffords was hosting when she was shot.  

I don't ever want them to really think about the fact that there are about 20 mass shootings every single year, and what that might mean for them, or, someday, their children.

And so I'm ready to have the conversation right now, today.  I'm ready to say enough is enough.  The 2nd Amendment may guarantee a right, but Americans, at long last, have a responsibility.  It is a responsibility to the safety of our communities, our friends and neighbors, and our children.  It is time to quit living in the fantasyland that somehow more guns make us safer.  It is time to once and for all put to rest the notion that anyone needs an AR-15 assault rifle for any reason other than to murder other people.  It is time for politicians to tell the NRA to back off.

I'm also ready to have the conversation about mental illness in this country.  It is too early to know, but it seems reasonable to deduce that we'll disover the alleged shooter they have in custody, a young man named James Holmes, will have some kind of deep, terrible mental illness.

I've already seen too many Tweets and too many comments about locking him up and throwing away the key, or executing him -- both of which are tantamount to throwing him away.  I'm not suggesting the man not be brought to justice, but we also need to have the hard conversation about whether or not our justice system is equipped to deal with people who have profound mental illness.  

The questions around mental illness end up being about whether help was available for him, and if it was, why didn't he get it.  The questions end up being about societal safety nets.  Was there one for James Holmes?  Even if there was would it have prevented this?  I don't know.  That's why we talk about things.  That's why we have conversations about things.

The sooner, the better.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Hope you have a really great birthday, Mom.

This would be the serious portrait of my mother and Emeline.

 

Into the Echo Chamber: Ruthless is the way to go they know

Friday, July 13, 2012

Ben -- 

So it was almost unfair of me to drop Karl Rove, Grover Norquist and an Eminem reference on you at the end of our conversational trail last week and not give you the opportunity to respond.  Feel free to opine now.... I say lyrically he peaked with The Eminem Show, his best work with a sample was with Aerosmith's "Dream On", and his best collaboration was with Nate Dogg (I know, an upset that it wasn't Dido or Elton John) on "'Till I Collapse" - which would be my ring entrance or batters box walk-up song, by the way...

You?

I kicked it up another notch with follows by adding Erick Erickson of RedState and Reince Priebus form the RNC.  We will see if there is anything good to mine there...  Happily for me, RedState has an article on how terrible Condi Rice would be as a VP pick and what the different types of positive spin would be from GOPers.  At least she is not another boring white guy, right?  

So, I have gone out there with my fun dark horse, Mike Huckabee.  I think he solves some Team Romney problems and doesn't add too much baggage.  However, as an Arkansan, I know you feel different.  So, my two questions to you to kick off week two are these: 1) how do you see the Romney VP pick going down? and 2) Please, oh please, go off on Huckabee.  It is fun when you get all Ozarky and worked up...

Ding, ding.  Welcome to round two.

MBS

# # # #

Monday, July 16, 2012

Hi, Matt -- 

Look, I had Eminem's "Without Me" close out a Finally Friday back in March, mostly so I could see Dr. Dre roll his eyes through the whole thing.  And speaking of Dre, I suspect our readership is far less interested in our varied taste in rap music, but on the off-chance someone actually cares, I submit this -- you know, actual rap -- to them and to you, and say get back to me when you decide to get real.

And speaking of older posts, I am loathe to once again root around through the archives, but your prompt leaves me little choice.  I wrote a post in February of 2005 about Governor and Mrs. Huckabee (again the horrifying third-person narrative is simply unforgivable).  It was about the "covenant marriage" the Huckabees had just undertaken, a strange ritual that looks not unlike a mass wedding, because, well it is a mass wedding.  I would like to point out that it was John Cole at the must-read Balloon Juice who linked that story to his blog, the first link back to my blog from anywhere.  For as crummy as my piece on the Huckabees really is, the trackback is still a point of pride with me.

Here was the real point of that post, which I failed to communicate effectively: Mike Huckabee is real goddam weird.  I don't mean he's kind of a little odd.  All politicians with presidential ambitions are a little odd.  Hell all politicians, period.  But those who run for -- or consider running for -- the presidency are particularly out there.  You have to be to willingly put yourself through that.

Huckabee is not odd.  He and his family are weird, strange in the hideously freakish extreme. 

Mitt Romney tied a dog to the roof of his car on a family trip?  Bush league.

Mike Huckabee's son, David, strung a dog up by the neck from a tree, slit its throat and stoned it until it died.  At Boy Scout camp.  My fellow Arkansans, always ready to reward the, ahem, underdog, later made David the homecoming king at the school I attended for two years, Arkansas State University. 

Cry foul if you must -- it's Huckabee's creepy kid, not Huckabee himself.  Fair enough.  

When I ran the field operation for Jimmie Lou Fisher who ran for Arkansas Governor against Huckabee in 2002, our message was that Huckabee was an out-of-touch elitist.  

Sound familiar?  Huckabee was -- and still is, I believe -- an ordained Baptist minister.  This is nothing to mock in and of itself, but one of the weaknesses we discovered in Huckabee was that he took freebies from friends, supporters, lobbyists and just about anyone with the inclination to give him and First Lady Janet, well, anything.  The list of gifts was long and egregious.  Guitars.  Tickets.  Jeans.  I mean, who gives a man jeans?  He took these freebies and gifts in the manner of a preacher (as I understand it; and again, I offer no judgment on preachers and their getting gifts).  Yet Huckabee was the Governor of Arkansas  The gift taking far exceeded the appearance of impropriety.  Show up at the man's doorstep with something wrapped, and you had Mike in your pocket.

This proved to turn out to be what I still think was a career (if not ambition) killing problem when he was bought off by folks representing the religious right who believed a man named Wayne DuMond, a convicted rapist who had been mutilated in a most horrifying way, to be innocent.  DuMond was released at Huckabee's order (Huckabee's illegal order), and later raped again, this time killing his victim.  DuMond died of cancer a few years ago.  I can relay the story in more gruesome detail later if you like, but it I believe I've given ample description to enough of the facts that we might call this Huckabee's Willie Horton moment.

And if that is not enough, you should know that when Janet left the Governor's Mansion, she went on to sell windows and siding.  That's not code for anything.  She was a sales rep for a windows and siding company.  

Oh, and by "Governor's Mansion" I actually mean triple-wide trailer, which the Huckabees inhabited for much of their time during Mike's governorship.  The Mansion itself underwent extensive remodeling, paid for by the taxpayers, of course.  This was at Mike and Janet's behest.  Say, where's a tea party freak when you need one?   

So you got your Arkansan rant.  I hope you're happy.

And for the record, Huckabee won't be picked for Romney's VP because he is doing just fine at FOX News, where I am sure they pay him more money that you or I could imagine, and probably just enough for Janet and Mike to spend on themselves.  Hey, Spencerian Red should follow him on Twitter, if you're not already.

Speaking of VPs, this tops the Spencerian Blue Twitter feed as I'm writing this, I shit you not:

Everything else is, almost exclusively, Bain stuff and off-shore investments (it also happens to be the one year anniversary of the President's meeting with Ruby Bridges).

You know, Spencerian Blue's newest follower, Peter Schorsch of SaintPetersblog had this headline today: Romney has decided on running mate, may announce who this week.  If Peter is to be believed, this thread may be moot by the end of the week, who knows.  

Whether it's this week or whether it's later, Romney's VP will be nothing like Joe Biden.  Barack Obama needed Biden for the long experience, and, funny enough now, on the foreign policy side.

Romney needs something else.  He needs to not look so square, so CEO-ish, so white-male-politician-ey.  I think the thing VP search teams and the nominees for whom they work look primarily for balance.  Of course, that's how Biden got the  job.  He's your old Uncle Joe.  Nice white guy from Scranton -- represents Delaware, for God's sake.  Lots of wonky politics and he occasionally says goofy stuff, whereas Obama speaks eloquently, brilliantly.  He comes from a part of Chicago that is associated with some privilege.  Anyway, I think the Obama/Biden balance speaks for itself.  

Bush/Cheney, largely the same thing.

Clinton/Gore was a sort of tour de force in a lot of ways -- two white guys the same age from neighboring states -- but in a lot of ways, not.  Gore was a Washington Man.  His father was a long-serving Senator from Tennessee, too.  Gore was supposed to be Clinton's entree into Washington.  I think it was one of the jobs where he failed the boss.

Anyway, Romney needs balance, is the point I'm trying to make, and that's why I've always said he'll go with Marco Rubio.  Marco is young, he's energetic, he's very eloquent -- but he's relaxed about it.  He's got a quick wit (though I also hear he's got a damn short fuse).  He's Hispanic, and he would almost undoubtedly lock up Florida for Romney.  

Still, at this point, most folks think that's crazy.  I don't know why.  It has yet to be explained to me how a Portman or a T-Paw or  Senator John Thune helps Romney.  Lord, you can barely tell them apart.  (Though to be fair, I thought early on that Thune might make a run for the presidency this time around, and would have been a formidable opponent to Obama).  

I thought the Condi Rice thing was a transparent and blatant a pander as I've seen in a long time.  Clumsy, too.   

So back to you with this question: what do you make of the New York Times T-Paw trail balloon today?  Further VP thoughts?

Best,

BJK

# # # #

Monday, July 16, 2012

Ben -

That is exactly what I was hoping for with the Huckabee rant.  Thank you for indulging me.  I particularly enjoyed the bit about the Huckster receiving free jeans.  Who the heck gives someone jeans?  

I get your Rubio man-crush, really I do.  He even made Jon Stewart like him as he was snake oil charisma-ing his way around questions on the Daily Show.  In some respects I guess you could say he provides balance, but there are some gaping holes left unfilled by young Marco.  Romney has only four years of government experience, all as Governor of a liberal state and marked by passage of Obamacare (what? They didn't call it that the first time around?) and raising a ton of fees NOT TAXES, BEN, FEES.  No DC experience, no legislative background.  Marco brings a short stint as US Senator and time in the Florida Legislature (which shouldn't count as real governance, in my opinion) but that is it.  

The other gaping hole is any semblance of connection to the southern, evangelical wing of the GOP.  They may like Marco but he is a former-Mormon-current-Catholic son of immigrants from Miami.  Go into a bar in Dothan, Alabama and call someone any one of those things and see what happens...  And I love that T-Paw is somehow the answer to this in some people's eyes.  Other than the fact that he had a mullet when he was running for President in '08, how does he do anything for that critical element of the base?  He doesn't.  Really, what does he bring?  Midwestern street cred?  Come on.  Unless the goal is to find someone who is quasi-legitimate and actually less interesting than Romney himself I see no plus side to Pawlenty.  

I think the true trial balloon was to see how vociferous the objection would be to 1) another white guy and 2) someone not from the South or Southwest....  In other words Pawlenty is the dummy stand in for Portman.  And to change the subject from a bad week of offshore accounts and outsourcing.  The problem is that nobody gave a crap.  Not othe GOP side in the @SpencerianRed feed anyway.  Not a single mention.  Of course that could be because they have never heard of the New York Times (think the Pace Picante sauce commercial "New York City??????" ) or it could be because they still do not talk about Romeny AT ALL.

Monday the feed was all about Obama as a cronyist.  Payoffs and layoffs... Actually a little catchy, but no meat to it, so no staying power.  The other big theme was that Obama was a bully.  All that false and mean advertising.  Name calling.  Talking about Willard's private sector career.  How dare they!  Barack, you negative campaigner you.  Meanie.  Just because your ads are better than ours (seriously put the Newt ad back to back with the "where's your hope now" ad and holy crap can you see how much better the Obama ad people are...) doesn't give you the right to talk to Mittens that way.  What happened to hope and change?  Negative ads aren't nice... Hold on, I have a Koch brother and Crossroads on the other line... I will have to get back to you.  

Anyway, still no positive message at all from the Mitt side.  No ideas, no platform.  I'll keep you apprised on that one, but I wouldn't hold your breath...  I added @RNC and @EricFehrn so far this week.  I am hoping for something to pique my interest.  

Keep an eye out for the first round of Tampa stories, as the GOP takeover of the Tampa Bay Times Forum begins this week - with Prince Reince himself here to oversee it...  

My question kickback to you is a fun exercise: if you could create a perfect running mate to counterbalance for Mitt, what would they look like?  Make up a bio - go wild.  

I say this: white woman from the upper south, former US Rep and current or former governor, husband is tied in with the southern evangelical movement.  

What say you?

MBS

# # # #

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Matt --

The Spencerian Blue feed is almost entirely focused on the Bain stuff and tax returns, though there has been some defense of the President's remarks around infrastructure and small business that I know has been feeding the Spencerian Red side for a day or so now.

I'll take the Matt Spence VP Mister Potato Head Challenge -- pieces and parts from all over the place put together to make one ideal candidate.  But I don't think I need to make anything up.  

As we talk about balance, I like where you're going with the"white woman from the upper south."  I'm thinking more deep south.  I don't want to come off as sexist, but I don't think Romney can go with a woman, not after Sarah Palin.  I'm not saying all women are like Sarah Palin, I'm just saying that if he were to choose a woman -- say, Governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina -- the inevitable (negative) comparisons would be made.  

And I don't know about "former US Rep." either.  I think you're a lot closer with "former governor."  Ties to "the southern evangelical movement" would be important.

Ties to Washington and the levers of power would be more important.  And if you can have those ties without, well, being tied up by it, all the better. 

If you look at those criteria -- former governor of a deep southern state, Christian, high-level Washington insider experience -- you can actually come up with a name.  It is a name that has not been mentioned by anyone that I can see.  But when I say it out loud, I get the creeps.

Haley Barbour.

You want a guy with stronger ties to a skeptical GOP?  How about the former head of the GOP, like Barbour.  You want to appear Reagan-esque?  How about a guy who worked for Reagan, like Barbour.  You want to appeal to Southern evangelicals?  You could do worse than the former (still popular) governor of the most conservative state in the union.  After all, 70% of GOP voters in Mississippi identify as evangelical Christians.  Yes, more than 50% of the respondents to that same poll in Mississippi thought President Obama was a Muslim, but in this case, that'd be a positive for the Romney Campaign.  

Yes, the idea of hiring a former lobbyist as your choice for VP sounds odd.  But then again, so does hiring the guy who ran your VP search.  Worked out just fine for Dick Cheney.  

And yes, Barbour has made racist comments.  Do you suppose those remarks would hurt a Romney/Barbour ticket with a base they desperately need to fire up?  Or, depressingly, would they help?

Feel free to tear down Barbour in any way you see fit. 

Thinking ahead just a bit to next week, have you read the Tom Junod piece in Esquire on Obama and what he calls the "Lethal Presidency"?  

It is a must-read.  What's been interesting to me is how little discussion there's been on not just foreign policy stuff -- we knew this would be a referendum election focused almost exclusively on the economy -- but how little discussion there's been on how we're basically in a new era of war and combat.  Maybe we're just not ready, as a nation, to have these deep discussions of morality. 

Best,

BJK

# # # #

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Ben -  

Haley Barbour!  You went there.  Fantastic.  He would be so much fun to follow through the process.  Just stop and think for a second about a Haley vs. Uncle Joe VP debate.  ... ... Too much fun to ever be allowed to happen.  It would be like a Comedy Central roast of a celebrity where they are actively trying to offend people.  In fact, I see a potential fistfight here.  Somebody gets a little too loose lipped, the other guy gets riled up, and bam... UFC fight night at the VP debate.  Please, oh please, Team Romney make this happen! 

Speaking of trying to offend, it is hard to overstate how fired up everyone in my timeline is about the "you didn't build it" comment.  I know that you think this is a slow-play trap for Romney, but I think that it truly was a mistake.  Actually, I should call it a miscalculation.  I don't think it was unintentional.  After all, what evidence do we have that Obama has done a single unintentional thing in this presidency?  He is the definition of calculating.  But, back to the comment.  The reason I think it was a miscalculation is because it has allowed the GOP to ride that self-made man story without having to use Willard as the poster boy for it.  They can just demonize Obama.  He gave them a little opening to promote rugged individualism without Mitt.  This will not go away.  Trust me.  The vitriol is more widespread than the typical anti-Obama stuff.  I think that this comment will be the frame through which the Romney Camp runs the rest of their campaign - at least for a while. Interesting to see if there truly is an Obama gambit here or not...

The other dominant narrative in my feed has been a silly inside baseball one.  It is one of those beltway sandstorms that means absolutely nothing outside of DC - nor most places in DC as well.  Those who have been through it before are at the Hawk and Dove or Tune Inn laughing, but the young ideologues at Tortilla Coast and the Irish Times take stuff like this very seriously.  (How's that for some inside baseball references in a paragraph dismissive of inside baseball?).  Almost as pathetically ironic as the topic, which is.... Wait for it....

Obama has held over 100 findraisers since his last Jobs Council meeting!!!!!  

Ah, the horror!  The same people holding this up as some sign of Obama's indifference to the issues of unemployment and job creation were surely the ones mocking the necessity and potential benefit of having a Jobs Council in the first place.  A total waste of time to even write a couple paragraphs making fun of it.

Moving on to your comment on drone strikes and 21st century warfare, I think there is a sausage factory mentality at work here.  The American people don't really want to think about what it takes to make the sausage or fight terrorism, they just want to know if it tastes good and we are safer.  The question about whether or not eating sausage in the first place is healthy for you is a great one to explore and I hope our conversation goes there next week.  

But for this week, I will wrap back around to the VP process.  I think that a huge factor will be Mitt's comfort level and personal relationship with his choice.  I don't believe for a second that he will want to hang out at the Country Skillet talking bass fishing with Haley.  Portman can share a nice snifter of brandy and sit in high backed leather chairs and talk carried interest with Mitt...  I still think he is the guy.  If Haley happens it is only because the GOP establishment wrangles it and forces it down his throat.  In a funny way, Obama's stumble and the economy's stagnation might give Mitt the confidence to ignore them, and weaken the campaign long term.  As for T-Paw, come on, he's your Secretary of Agriculture, not your VP. 

Your question to chew on until our next exchange comes courtesy of a beer billboard near our office.  I think it perfectly encapsulates Mitt and the GOP's problem with him.  It is an ad for Stella Artois.  Do you know anyone who drinks Stella?  I don't.  But technically, it is beer - though it isn't sure it wants to be.  The wording on the billboard makes me shake my head every time and wonder who exactly is the target for the ad.  Sorta like Mitt.  He's a Republican, but a fru-fru one who doesn't resonate with 95% of beer drinkers.  Will the GOP rank and file drink the Stella in November...  It is probably all about packaging and messaging... which brings us back to the slogan.  Are you ready?  

"It's not a glass, it's a chalice."

What?  Have you ever met anyone who wants their beer in a chalice?  Who approved that?  I can't think of a single way that makes me more likely to drink Stella Artois.  It is really hard to sell something people don't want, something people don't want to be associated with, something that people associate with snooty, pinky pointing elitism.  That is the GOP challenge this November.  Can they get us to belly up to the bar and say "Stella" out loud?   

Curious to hear your thoughts on that one.  Until then, back to the Red Echo Chamber for me.

MBS

 

# # # # 

Welcome to Into the Echo Chamber, the weekly electronic conversation of the 2012 presidential campaign as viewed from two Twitter feeds.  Matt Spence is monitoring the Twitterverse of the Romney Campaign, Republicans, and the "red" side of the aisle at @SpencerianRed.  I am monitoring the tweets of the Obama Team, Democrats using @SpencerianBlue.  Our email-based back-and-forths are posted here on Thursdays.  

You are, as always, invited to join the discussion, either in the comments below or by emailing Spencerian Red or Spencerian Blue.

Almost Friday Somebody Holds the Key Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

I think we can all agree Ann Romney's comments about the Mitt Romney Tax Return Fiasco were pretty ugly and really unhelpful:

Mitt Romney's wife is reinforcing her husband's refusal to make public several years of tax returns, telling ABC News "we've given all you people need to know" about the family's finances.

"You know, you should really look at where Mitt has led his life, and where he’s been financially," she said in her interview with Robin Roberts. "He’s a very generous person. We give 10 percent of our income to our church every year. Do you think that is the kind of person that is trying to hide things, or do things? No. He is so good about it. Then, when he was governor of Massachusetts, didn’t take a salary in the four years."

It's clear Mrs. Romney was trying to deflect the question from what's in the returns, to look at what a swell dude Mitt really is.

A few problems there.  One, Mitt is not a swell dude, and everyone knows it.  Two, it doesn't really matter than he didn't take a salary in four years.  Nor does their charitable giving.  Those things are irrelevant to the fact that it now looks like the Romney's have a great deal to hide, and are thus not releasing their returns.

Of course, none of that matters, because Mrs. Romney flubbed the interview with ABC's Robin Roberts with the "we've given all you people need to know."

You people?  Look, I get that the Romney's are frustrated on this point, but until they can understand why that doesn't matter, then their problems are going to get worse, not better.  

This plays directly into the notion -- a notion I think happens to be based in total truth -- that the Romneys are elite snobs, and that everyone else is "the help" and is treated accordingly.  How dare the common person ask to see the private financial information of these well-meaning people?  

It's not going to work.  The returns are going to have to be released.  This one ain't going away.

# # # #

A victory for the Romney people: they have effectively framed Ann Romney's dressage horse around her having multiple sclerosis, and so the DNC will refrain from using the horse in any attack ads on the Romney Campaign.

Probably for the best.  After all, if you need physical therapy for a debilitating condition, you probably wouldn't want your dressage horse attacked, either.

# # # #

Speaking of really rich people, how many dressage horses... er, that is, American families with median wealth would you need to equal the wealth of the Walton -- of Walmart fame -- family?

Great question, asked and answered by the cool folks at the Economic Policy Institute.

Any guesses?

More than one million families.  

They explain it, just in case the "median" thing is confusing (it always is for me):

To address these points in one last way, take the wealth of the Walton family ($89.5 billion) compared to the wealth of the median American family—that family that is wealthier than half of all others and less wealthy than half. In 2010, median wealth was $77,300 (down from $126,400 in 2007). How many of these “typical” American households (i.e., those with median wealth—wealthier than fully half of the overall population) would you need to lump together to reach the Walton family’s wealth? About 1.16 million, up from 580,000 in 2007.

$89.5 billion.  

Sweet mercy.

# # # #

Around this time last year, the Anthony Weiner Twitter scandal unfolded.  It was pretty ugly, and the person for whom it was most ugly was then-Congressman Weiner's pregnant wife, a woman named Huma Abedin who, as it happens is a long-serving aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

When all that was happening, I wrote then about Huma:

As a very brief aside, I happen to have met Huma Abedin, and remember her to be a lovely person.  She worked for then-First Lady Hillary Clinton at the same time I did (she started in 1996, and has stayed with her in the Senate, and now the State Department).  I know her more by reputation, and understand her to be a woman of class and decency who didn't deserve any of this.  She has my sympathy and good wishes in this troubled time.

"...a woman of class and decency who [doesn't] deserve any of this." 

You could say that same thing now about her with respect to the unjust and really immoral persecution she has faced at the hands of insane Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.  Bachmann is ludicrously charging that Ms. Abedin, a Muslim, has ties to the Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, and that they have thusly infiltrated high levels of American diplomacy and international relations.  She is asking to have Huma's security clearance reviewed.

It should be noted that Senator John McCain, a Republican, vehemently defended Human Abedin on the floor of the United States Senate, and at the same time attacked Congresswoman Bachmann for her thoughtless -- and, let's face it, downright evil -- witch hunt.

# # # #

And unfortunately, Huma Abedin is not alone in her plight.

The other side -- the tea partier side, the crazy side -- is targeting Muslim Americans in government and public service.  This has got to stop.  Now.

# # # #

Come down off your throne.

It's almost Friday.

The Mitt Romney Tax Return Issues Escalates

by Benjamin J. Kirby

First, go down to your salt mine and find the biggest grain of the stuff you can.

Okay, with salt in hand, imagine this: Mitt Romney drops out of the presidential race.  Could it happen?  Apparently, per the HuffingtonPost, this unprecedented, history-making notion has crossed the man's mind.

Mitt Romney has been determined to resist releasing his tax returns at least since his bid for Massachusetts governor in 2002 and has been confident that he will never be forced to do so, several current and former Bain executives tell The Huffington Post. Had he thought otherwise, say the sources based on their longtime understanding of Romney, he never would have gone forward with his run for president.

# # # #

While Romney may personally prefer to drop out before releasing more returns, people who know him note that he doesn't always do what he wants. Torn between his longtime desire to be president and his equally strong belief that he should not be forced to release more returns, Romney may turn, as he has with so many big decisions, to strict numbers-based analysis. If he plummets in the polls and the risk of defeat presses itself on him, the sources say, his calculation could change.

Wow.

Wow.  

All of this, a David Nir at DailyKos says, begs the question: what in the hell is in those returns that Governor Romney doesn't want you to see?

And of course, this all swings back to the question of just what exactly is Romney hiding in all those 1040s? If it's something so devastating that he has to drop out rather than reveal his returns, the whole political world would be rendered speechless.

Uh, yeah, "speechless" is putting it mildly.  

Just a quick addition to what has already been reported at the HuffingtonPost and DailyKos: if Romney is determined to A.) never release the returns, and B.) stay in the race, that situation may be worse than he imagines, because he's essentially inviting the Obama Campaign to build the frame that he won't.  What's in those returns?  Could be anything -- and the Obama people will be all too happy to tell you.  That, versus nothing from the Romney people, will win every time.

This is getting much, much worse for Romney and his campaign.  And it's not going away.