Mr. Gregory had mentioned many topics at the top of the show, but you got the hint from the guest list that there were only going to be a few subjects which would receive focus - the Supreme Court's decisions on DOMA and the Voting Rights Act, then abortion rights, framed around what is happening in Texas right now.
The question that comes to mind for us is if Republicans can live within the two respective Libertarian and Religious skins simultaneously. The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) puts these two governing influences at odds with one another. The conservatives on today's program were driven more by religion in their respective views on the SCOTUS ruling.
Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) is going to lead an effort for a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as between, as conservatives like to say, one man and one woman. Along with former Senator Jim DeMint, he made the argument that children are better off being raised in a home that have a man and a woman as their parents. There isn't definitely research to prove or disprove that and arguments were made on both sides, but for the purposes of what we're saying we can take that out of the equation.
Mr. Hueslskamp explained that the traditional definition of marriage is essentially what civilization is based on, and his frame of reference is a religious one. David Gregory outright called it a 'faith based' view, with the implication that it infringes on the separation of church and state in our Constitution, and he wouldn't be wrong. In his pre-recorded interview with Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, he listened to the minority leader make that point - equal treatment under the law, otherwise it is discrimination. (Lately, it seems that Mr. Gregory has been doing less moderating on the program, making his views evident as well as the guests. It's an important note because Meet The Press has always had a moderator, not a host. He would suggest that he square it up a bit more.)
But using the religious frame of reference to make the argument about gay marriage rights does run at odds with Libertarianism - equal rights and personal freedoms for everyone regardless of your social choices. On today's program, those views were espoused more by Democrats, and among the many citations of Justice Kennedy's opinion, it is about equal dignity.
With that said Ralph Reed felt compelled to respond to an implicit charge that if you are against gay marriage, you're intolerant. His objection to that equation is understandable and we would agree with the objection based on the respect that one would have for the beliefs of someone else and the right to have them. As you know from us in this column, we're big into the separation of church and state idea, ultimately state trumps church... every time.
But does the striking down of DOMA create the inevitability that all states will eventually legalize gay marriage? Ralph Reed doesn't seem to think so, and nor do we, at least any time in the near future, and that's because it will be thrown to the states to decide. As we know, gerrymandered districts in many states are constructed to favor Republican majorities and those majorities, despite whatever public opinion is, are not going to move away from the definition of traditional marriage.
Speaking of gerrymandered districts and Mr. Reed, he said that since the Civil Rights Act of 1965, even request for redistricting in his home state of Georgia had been rejected and that the Voting Rights Act is a very personal issue for him, and in pointing this out he seemed to be saying that these denials were themselves discriminatory. If that is the case, it's a hollow argument because those DOJ rejections have come under Democratic and Republican Administrations alike.
The panel talked about an antiquated formula for determining which states fall under the fourth provision of the Voting Rights Act - the map. The map should be the entire country, and that's how Congress should 'redraw' it putting everyone on equal footing so that if, in fact, it is antiquated now no one will feel singled out. The problem is that it is not the 'ghosts' as Michael Eric Dyson stated, but what is actually still going on, citing voter ID laws in South Carolina and redistricting in Texas. Because SCOTUS declared that provision no longer valid, in these state legislatures lead by Republicans are moving quickly to make changes, it is transparent that these changes are designed to disenfranchise voters, particularly minorities.
And as we're seeing, redistricting will play a part in what's happening in Texas' abortion rights battle, in which because of the filibuster from State Senator Wendy Davis, Governor Rick Perry is calling a special session. On the program, Ms. Davis conceded that because of this called special session, Republicans in the Texas legislature may win the fight to pass very restrictive abortion regulations, despite her efforts. We would agree with Ms. Davis that these laws not only restrict abortion but cut off essential healthcare to women. It's the continual disregard for women's opinions and health in these conservatively-driven abortion bills, most crafted by men only, that offends us the most. We don't have to look far to confirm this notion. Mr. DeMint was being completely disingenuous when he said that women would have the 'opportunity' to have an ultrasound when considering an abortion, and we're glad that Rachel Maddow pointed out that invasive ultrasounds are being mandated. Scarier yet was when Ms. Maddow asked Mr. Reed if ultrasounds should be mandated, he responded by saying it should be left up to the states to litigate. It illustrated a basic disregard for a woman's right to make decisions about her own health. To cement the Texas legislature getting their way, redistricting in the state to favor Republican victories, will result in Ms. Davis most probably losing her seat, in effect ending future opposition to like bills.
To mitigate the continuing polarization of this country, we would need to redraw the Congressional District maps for the country. It's a pipe dream that would never happen because that would be
politicians potentially redistricting themselves out of office if they
didn't take more moderate positions. They should be made square - or at least squarer and fairer, just like SCOTUS did with striking down DOMA.
Roundtable: MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow; chairman of the Faith and Freedom
Coalition, Ralph Reed; author and professor at Georgetown University,
Michael Eric Dyson; President of the Heritage Foundation, Fmr. Sen. Jim
DeMint; and NBC’s Pete Williams.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Saturday, June 29, 2013
6.29.13: Immigration Reform - A House Republican Takedown
As promised, here's our bit about Immigration Reform.
The Senate passed the most comprehensive Immigration bill in nearly 30 years, which in and of itself would be amazing but given the hyper-polarized political times we're living through it makes it even more remarkable. They should be commended - all of them. Democrats have gone along with the Hoeven-Corker
Amendment, which will need to be, well... amended since it contains triggers
(needing to achieve a certain measure as to activate another process) which can
or can not be achieved according to how one interprets the numbers, which means
it can be politically manipulated.
Also part of the Amendment is the call
for more fencing and 20,000 more agents along our southern border -
the Comprehensive Southern Border Security Strategy (see below). Senate Democrats compromised
on these superfluous measures to achieve broad bipartisan support for the bill
even though the effective immigration rate at our Southern border is a net zero. Also note that President Obama's Administration has already deported more people than any
other previous president.
With all that, the Democrats compromised to get to 60 votes and ended up with 68 sending a strong message to the House of Representatives that broad support for the bill was bi-partisan. This is where all the ink praising landmark legislation goes all for not because the Senate bill is going to die in the House. Speaker Boehner has already come out and said that the House will craft its own bill, and then hopefully between the two they can come up with solid law.
This for lack of a better description is a load of crap. There are too many extreme right House members that believe the Senate bill is equivalent to giving amnesty to the 11 million undocumented residents in this country. And that must be true because Sarah Palin confirms it to be so. [The reason we single out Ms. Palin is because to our recollection, she has never been correct in any of her assessments on anything, and these assessments never contain alternative solutions, just castigation.] But on this false premise, the House will construct its own bill that will probably requirement 11 million people to leave and come back if they really want to be citizens. But that reasoning, if you can call it that, simply doesn't contain any logic, as no one is going to do that.
Moderate Republican Senators' motivation for passing comprehensive immigration reform is driven by the knowledge that Latinos are the fastest growing segment of our population, which by and large doesn't support the Republican party. And why should they?
Once again in America, this week there has been much discussion about race. In a country such as ours, it's an on-going conversation that we continually need to have so we shouldn't shy away. With Paula Deen's troubles and the start of the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin murder trial underway, there's something ticking at us that we feel we should mention and its in regard to immigration.
Republicans want the Latino vote, and that's it. They are not so much interested in understanding the community or supporting it, as evidenced by their policies. Their amendments and ideas on what to do with the 11 million undocumented do not stem from a place of compassion, but from fear - all insidiously geared to keeping people out, nothing inclusive. It's not quite all out racism, but what they're doing is systematic and xenophobic. Also, the 'amnesty' that they're talking about is actually a path to citizenship that will take an individual 12 years to complete, in which they have to pay back taxes and fines. It practically doesn't seem achievable.
These types of ideas are what is going to play out in the House, and Republicans will ram through an uncompromising bill without any Democratic support because it will contain nothing in the Democratically lead bill from the Senate. A House Republican takedown. However, before the whole thing collapses, to save some sort of face, a heavily watered down bill will come about so as to say at least something got done.
We really hope we're wrong.
Some actual language from the bill...
COMPREHENSIVE SOUTHERN BORDER SECURITY STRATEGY
The term ‘‘Comprehensive
Southern Border Security Strategy’’ means the strategy established by the
Secretary pursuant to section 5(a) to achieve and maintain an effectiveness
rate of 90 percent or higher in all border sectors.
EFFECTIVE CONTROL
The term ‘‘effective
control’’ means the ability to achieve and maintain, in a Border Patrol sector—
persistent surveillance; and an effectiveness rate of 90 percent orhigher.
EFFECTIVENESS RATE
The ‘‘effectivenessrate’’,
in the case of a border sector, is the percentage calculated by dividing the
number of apprehensions and turn backs in the sector during a fiscal year by
the total number of illegal entries in the sector during such fiscal year.
SOUTHERN BORDER
The term ‘‘Southern
border’’ means the international border between the United States and Mexico.
SOUTHERN BORDER FENCING
STRATEGY
The term ‘‘Southern Border
Fencing Strategy’’ means the strategy established by the Secretary pursuant to
section 5(b) that identifies where fencing (including double-layer fencing),
infrastructure, and technology, including at ports of entry, should be deployed
along the Southern border The Department’s border security goal is to achieve
and maintain effective control in all border sectors along the Southern border.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
6.23.13: G-Men - Greenwald, Gregory and Government
We were prepared this morning for a long discussion about Immigration Reform but that went right out the window when news broke that Edward Snowden has left Hong Kong, caught a flight to Moscow and is possibly on his way to Venezuela or where ever. Within this breaking story, who knew Meet The Press was going to be making its own news?
Mr. Gregory interviewed Glenn Greenwald, reporter for the Guardian (UK) and post inteview, Mr. Greenwald tweeted this:
In real time, Mr. Gregory responded directly to the tweet explaining that he was posing the question that others have raised and wasn't subscribing to the theory that Mr. Greenwald in fact aided and abetted Mr. Snowden.
Mr. Greenwald explained to Mr. Gregory that Edward Snowden went to the Guardian newspaper and the Washington Post with the information he obtained and specifically outlined what should and should not be made public. Mr. Greenwald also explained that Mr. Snowden did this not to enrich himself, but to make public what he thought the American people had the right to know. Mr. Greenwald also stated that Mr. Snowden was most likely going to seek political asylum because the Obama Administration has been unprecedentedly aggressive in persecuting and arresting whistle blowers, and in the process have gone after reporters as well. He makes a valid assertion as evidenced by the Administration's surveillance of AP reporters.
While we don't disagree with Mr. Greenwald, the mistake that he made as a reporter is that he made himself part of the story. His columnist inclination allowed that to happen and now defenders of the surveillance program view his reporting to have an agenda. As we sit and write this column, we can not tell you the name of the Washington Post reporter who disclosed the PRISM program for instance. (Bart Gellman, by the way.)
After responding to the tweet, it was evident that Mr. Greenwald's accusation of criminalizing journalism had affected Mr. Gregory, as the hour went on, you could see his reflection of the exchange in his face. His question was a fair one, but you could see that the notion of being so closely in bed with the government, as Mr. Greenwald asserted, disturbed Mr. Gregory, who could only speculate how this was going to be perceived over the internet. Chuck Todd, on the other hand, seemed much more at ease when he mused about how much Mr. Greenwald was possibly involved in assisting Mr. Snowden and if his role went beyond anything of receiver of information. There are reporters and political geeks in the media, and Mr. Todd is definitely more of the latter, and as such doesn't want to rock the boat. Judge as you will, it just about knowing roles, and Mr. Todd did access it correctly that Mr. Greenwald attacked the premise of the question and did not answer it. It's debatable whether a reporter can be 'too close' to the story, but it you entertain that, Mr. Greenwald just might be because that tweet after the interview was too defensive, even in his role as news maker now.
There is no doubt that this is a debate that the American people needed to have and frankly our government officials were denying it to happen. Chuck Todd said that the American people have come to expect a certain level of transparency and the government needs to catch up. Mr. Greenwald accurately pointed out that James Clapper blatantly lied to Congress about bulk collection of data (that unbelievable even goes beyond the Patriot Act) on Americans. This column would love to know why that's not a big deal and if Congress was in fact fully briefed, why would it be necessary for Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) to ask the question in the first place?
Yet, all of our political leaders seem to be on the same page - they all want to see Edward Snowden extradited from 'where ever' and face trial for treason. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) said that she didn't vote for the Patriot Act or any of these data collection programs, but yet was concerned for Americans' safety, and that yes... he broke the law. It's a go-along type of statement. Congressman Rogers (R-MI), on the other hand, sees Mr. Snowden as an enemy of the state and seems to think that Mr. Greenwald should also bear some responsibility. Mr. Rogers said that Mr. Snowden's actions and words defied logic. (If he's loyal to America why is he flying from Hong Kong to Moscow to possibly Cuba?) Where government officials also haven't caught up with the public is the thinking that the extent of wrongfulness is not so cut and dry. But on down the line - Robert Gibbs, Dick Durbin, Tom Coburn, etc. - feel the program is constitutional and that Mr. Snowden needs to be brought to justice.
There was one thing that Senator Coburn said that caught our attention and gave us cause for alarm. The only reason it won't get the attention that it deserves is because of the nonsense above. Mr. Coburn said that Congress' approval rating was the lowest of all government agencies and that the military's approval rating was the highest, and given that, he said it was a good thing that the military was running the surveillance program. What? Did he just say that the military collects massive amounts of data on American citizens? The major concern is that if the military is running this program then civilian oversight is certainly going to be limited. It speaks to the larger picture of agencies like the NSA and CIA becoming more entwined with the military - just look at the military personnel being appointed to head these agencies.
Simply, it's just weird to be honestly discussing so much 'big brother' stuff, but this is where we are we guess. As we said before, with people putting so much of their personal information online, it's almost as if you're giving tacit permission to for people to look. Fine, but the government, in this case James Clapper, when we ask about data collection and it's extent, the American people deserve and can handle the truth, as long it is comes from our leaders. That way the debate can go forward without so much distrust and suspicious. But no, instead we have to find out from an individual who while giving us information that we deserved to know also fully understands his new fame, and hence self-importance. That last part is not a dig, it is to illustrate that his motives are unknown whereas at least a Congressman could say, and does say, that we're doing this to protect you.
Here's the consolation, despite all these politicians hard stance on the whistle blower, they've all said that there needs to be a conversation. On the program, they showed a the transcript of Howard Dean saying as much. Both Mr. Durbin and Ms. Fiorina said that this is a conversation that we must and and as Robert Gibbs said, it is incumbent upon the Administration to have this conversation. Well, if this is the case, and you're not going to bring it up, someone had to.
Panel of lawmakers: Assistant Democratic Leader Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL); Ranking member of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and immigration “Gang of 8” member, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK); Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA).
Roundtable: NBC News Political Contributor Robert Gibbs; Republican Strategist Mike Murphy; Democratic Mayor of Atlanta Kasim Reed; Fmr. Chair and CEO of Hewlett Packard, Carly Fiorina; and NBC News Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd.
Post Script: Congressman Rogers said he wouldn't be surprised if Vladimir Putin had advanced knowledge of Mr. Snowden's flight itinerary. We find this funny because of course he did. We're not surprised of the dispute with regard to Mr. Snowden's extradition papers from Hong Kong either. As vindictive competitors, why wouldn't Russia and China want to stick it to the U.S. when they could It's not like the U.S. wouldn't do the same - like three little kids fighting for all the marbles.
Also, we're going to come back with another column on Immigration. It just didn't make sense to include that commentary here.
Mr. Gregory interviewed Glenn Greenwald, reporter for the Guardian (UK) and post inteview, Mr. Greenwald tweeted this:
In real time, Mr. Gregory responded directly to the tweet explaining that he was posing the question that others have raised and wasn't subscribing to the theory that Mr. Greenwald in fact aided and abetted Mr. Snowden.
Mr. Greenwald explained to Mr. Gregory that Edward Snowden went to the Guardian newspaper and the Washington Post with the information he obtained and specifically outlined what should and should not be made public. Mr. Greenwald also explained that Mr. Snowden did this not to enrich himself, but to make public what he thought the American people had the right to know. Mr. Greenwald also stated that Mr. Snowden was most likely going to seek political asylum because the Obama Administration has been unprecedentedly aggressive in persecuting and arresting whistle blowers, and in the process have gone after reporters as well. He makes a valid assertion as evidenced by the Administration's surveillance of AP reporters.
While we don't disagree with Mr. Greenwald, the mistake that he made as a reporter is that he made himself part of the story. His columnist inclination allowed that to happen and now defenders of the surveillance program view his reporting to have an agenda. As we sit and write this column, we can not tell you the name of the Washington Post reporter who disclosed the PRISM program for instance. (Bart Gellman, by the way.)
After responding to the tweet, it was evident that Mr. Greenwald's accusation of criminalizing journalism had affected Mr. Gregory, as the hour went on, you could see his reflection of the exchange in his face. His question was a fair one, but you could see that the notion of being so closely in bed with the government, as Mr. Greenwald asserted, disturbed Mr. Gregory, who could only speculate how this was going to be perceived over the internet. Chuck Todd, on the other hand, seemed much more at ease when he mused about how much Mr. Greenwald was possibly involved in assisting Mr. Snowden and if his role went beyond anything of receiver of information. There are reporters and political geeks in the media, and Mr. Todd is definitely more of the latter, and as such doesn't want to rock the boat. Judge as you will, it just about knowing roles, and Mr. Todd did access it correctly that Mr. Greenwald attacked the premise of the question and did not answer it. It's debatable whether a reporter can be 'too close' to the story, but it you entertain that, Mr. Greenwald just might be because that tweet after the interview was too defensive, even in his role as news maker now.
There is no doubt that this is a debate that the American people needed to have and frankly our government officials were denying it to happen. Chuck Todd said that the American people have come to expect a certain level of transparency and the government needs to catch up. Mr. Greenwald accurately pointed out that James Clapper blatantly lied to Congress about bulk collection of data (that unbelievable even goes beyond the Patriot Act) on Americans. This column would love to know why that's not a big deal and if Congress was in fact fully briefed, why would it be necessary for Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) to ask the question in the first place?
Yet, all of our political leaders seem to be on the same page - they all want to see Edward Snowden extradited from 'where ever' and face trial for treason. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) said that she didn't vote for the Patriot Act or any of these data collection programs, but yet was concerned for Americans' safety, and that yes... he broke the law. It's a go-along type of statement. Congressman Rogers (R-MI), on the other hand, sees Mr. Snowden as an enemy of the state and seems to think that Mr. Greenwald should also bear some responsibility. Mr. Rogers said that Mr. Snowden's actions and words defied logic. (If he's loyal to America why is he flying from Hong Kong to Moscow to possibly Cuba?) Where government officials also haven't caught up with the public is the thinking that the extent of wrongfulness is not so cut and dry. But on down the line - Robert Gibbs, Dick Durbin, Tom Coburn, etc. - feel the program is constitutional and that Mr. Snowden needs to be brought to justice.
There was one thing that Senator Coburn said that caught our attention and gave us cause for alarm. The only reason it won't get the attention that it deserves is because of the nonsense above. Mr. Coburn said that Congress' approval rating was the lowest of all government agencies and that the military's approval rating was the highest, and given that, he said it was a good thing that the military was running the surveillance program. What? Did he just say that the military collects massive amounts of data on American citizens? The major concern is that if the military is running this program then civilian oversight is certainly going to be limited. It speaks to the larger picture of agencies like the NSA and CIA becoming more entwined with the military - just look at the military personnel being appointed to head these agencies.
Simply, it's just weird to be honestly discussing so much 'big brother' stuff, but this is where we are we guess. As we said before, with people putting so much of their personal information online, it's almost as if you're giving tacit permission to for people to look. Fine, but the government, in this case James Clapper, when we ask about data collection and it's extent, the American people deserve and can handle the truth, as long it is comes from our leaders. That way the debate can go forward without so much distrust and suspicious. But no, instead we have to find out from an individual who while giving us information that we deserved to know also fully understands his new fame, and hence self-importance. That last part is not a dig, it is to illustrate that his motives are unknown whereas at least a Congressman could say, and does say, that we're doing this to protect you.
Here's the consolation, despite all these politicians hard stance on the whistle blower, they've all said that there needs to be a conversation. On the program, they showed a the transcript of Howard Dean saying as much. Both Mr. Durbin and Ms. Fiorina said that this is a conversation that we must and and as Robert Gibbs said, it is incumbent upon the Administration to have this conversation. Well, if this is the case, and you're not going to bring it up, someone had to.
Panel of lawmakers: Assistant Democratic Leader Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL); Ranking member of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee and immigration “Gang of 8” member, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK); Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); and Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA).
Roundtable: NBC News Political Contributor Robert Gibbs; Republican Strategist Mike Murphy; Democratic Mayor of Atlanta Kasim Reed; Fmr. Chair and CEO of Hewlett Packard, Carly Fiorina; and NBC News Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd.
Post Script: Congressman Rogers said he wouldn't be surprised if Vladimir Putin had advanced knowledge of Mr. Snowden's flight itinerary. We find this funny because of course he did. We're not surprised of the dispute with regard to Mr. Snowden's extradition papers from Hong Kong either. As vindictive competitors, why wouldn't Russia and China want to stick it to the U.S. when they could It's not like the U.S. wouldn't do the same - like three little kids fighting for all the marbles.
Also, we're going to come back with another column on Immigration. It just didn't make sense to include that commentary here.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
6.16.13: Lack of Trust, Little Credibility
The chaos in Syria really is a perfect storm for a larger regional
war, the proverbial 'powder keg,' as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
called it. The war in Syria consists of multiple conflicts going on all at once: a religiously rooted civil war wrapped in a larger geopolitical conflict. Within Syria, the Alawite sect of Shia Islam, the Assad Regime and the minority, rules over the majority Sunni population so this brings in steadfast allies Hezbollah and Iran on the side of Assad, all of whom are adversaries of the West and Israel. There is also the larger quest for influence in the region between Saudi Arabia (Sunni) and Iran (Shia), animosity based along religious lines so the Saudis are giving tacit support to the rebels. Russia's interests in Syria are many, but significant is that Assad provides them access to and economic leverage on the Mediterranean in the form of a keenly influential port.
All of these variant motivations don't make any of President Obama's choices easy when weighing the long term implications so it's discouraging to hear Mr. Graham complain about the Obama Administration's foreign policy as simply consisting of 'not being Bush.' First, it trivializes the grave situation and the ensuing consequences in Syria, and secondly the person most responsible for the Administration having to take that tact is, in fact, George W. Bush.
Let's face it, the American Government's got no cred internationally anymore when it comes to moral authority and truthfulness and that's directly because of the actions taken by the Bush Administration. The U.S. Government has determined that Mr. Obama's 'red line' has been crossed and that the Assad Regime has in fact used chemical weapons, and the international community scoffs at our declaration. The United States once again officially declares that the Bashir Assad must step down and then Russia, Iran (with 4,000 troops on their way to Syria), and Hezbollah all double down on their support. We're not going to put boots on the ground - Senator Graham explained that everyone's [read: both Republicans and Democrats] position is not to go there and ask an already war weary American public to indulge more human cost.
That leaves the United States with two options of either arming the rebels or creating a no-fly zone. Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Graham, along with the Washington Post's David Ignatius all agreed that the government has adequately identified the moderate rebels to supply. David Gregory accurately pointed out that we can not track guns in this country so how are we going to be able to do that in Syria? On the other hand at one point, he also provided the counter that enforcing a no-fly zone could very well be that slippery slope of the United States becoming directly involved as voiced by Senator Mark Udall (D-CO). Neither choice sounds appealing and are accompanied by peril. History tells us that if we supply arms to the rebels that one day those very weapons could be used against us. If the U.S. coordinates at no-fly zone using our allies that that is like 'leading from behind' as we did in Libya, definitely something Republicans won't go for.
When you consider all those circumstances, it is understandable why the Obama Administration would be cautious; they just can not be indecisive. What they need to start with is stating a clear strategic goal for the United States in this conflict, and if that is to stop the killing then arming rebels (adding more guns to situation) is going to long delay that desired result.
The solution should be the United States and Russia collectively putting diplomatic pressure on both sides for a ceasefire, and then send in United Nation peace keeping troops to stabilize things on the ground. After which, a multinational group of inspectors should go in an verify whether chemical weapons have been used, hence determining whether or not Bashir Assad has a future. We understand that that 93,000 have perished and the United States is already late to the party, but we're in a no-win situation. The credibility of the United States is so tainted that we're blamed for not becoming involved soon enough, and then if we do the involvement is deemed inadequate. And vanquishing a dictator's power is licking extracting a ticked that's burrowed deep under the skin - not easy as illustrated. The Obama Administration realizes that because of past folly and a dearth of credibility we haven't any leverage to sway things toward a positive outcome. Unfortunately, one of the consequences is that we could lose another key ally in the region, King Abdullah and Jordan, which was of evident concern to all the Senators today. Mr. Udall stated that he feared for the entire region if Jordan were to become unstable.
The credibility deficit is compounded here at home by the NSA spying program, and how all that is playing out. As we said last week, positions are all over the map as illustrated by the opinions of today's guests. Senator Udall stated that he felt comfortable with the NSA's PRISM program that monitors the internet behavior of people outside the United States. However, he then explained his concerns with the collection of metadata and how it had the potential to infringe on an individual's fourth amendment rights.
Of course General Michael Hayden is going to defend these programs as he was part of the architectural team that put it all together. He can say that there haven't been abuses such as turning the PRISM program in the direction of U.S. citizens but how can we be sure. Andrea Mitchell played the healthy skeptic all program saying that after so many scandals, how can we have trust in such statements. As Senator Udall put it, it's a secret request to a secret court for a secret program.
We're able to have this rightful debate because of the information disclosed by Edward Snowden. However, what he did was wrong because it was all about self-gratification and elevation in trying to achieve international rebel hero worship status on the scale of Julian Assange, not about doing the right thing. Unfortunately we take example from our elected officials who are more concerned with self-promotion and pander that they forget governing is about arguing, compromising, and leading.
But also wrong is when David Ignatius said that we've had this debate about surveillance when warrantless wiretapping first came up. As The New York Times' James Risen pointed out, this surveillance state apparatus was being built without debate, nor public knowledge. That's key because there's no reversing it now, it's already done so now we're left to live with it. Congressman Scott (D-VA) gave several easy examples of how the system could be illegally turned against an individual, an intimidation tool used for gathering dirt on political enemies for instance, not just for tracking terrorists. Mr. Risen mentioned the potential for this evolving into a police state, pointing out that there has never been a true accounting of the surveillance program in totality.
Despite the very real possibility of abuse and an Orwellian 'utopia' down the road, fifty-six percent of Americans find the build up of the surveillance state acceptable, which is an unbelievable number. Our Republican political leaders have been stoking big government overreach outrage for years, but on the ultimate big brother issue, they advocate for it and ask us to trust them, as if there is some credible reason why we should.
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), former Director of the NSA and CIA – now a principal of The Chertoff Group -- Gen. Michael Hayden, Washington Post Columnist David Ignatius, New York Times national security reporter James Risen, and NBC’s foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell.
All of these variant motivations don't make any of President Obama's choices easy when weighing the long term implications so it's discouraging to hear Mr. Graham complain about the Obama Administration's foreign policy as simply consisting of 'not being Bush.' First, it trivializes the grave situation and the ensuing consequences in Syria, and secondly the person most responsible for the Administration having to take that tact is, in fact, George W. Bush.
Let's face it, the American Government's got no cred internationally anymore when it comes to moral authority and truthfulness and that's directly because of the actions taken by the Bush Administration. The U.S. Government has determined that Mr. Obama's 'red line' has been crossed and that the Assad Regime has in fact used chemical weapons, and the international community scoffs at our declaration. The United States once again officially declares that the Bashir Assad must step down and then Russia, Iran (with 4,000 troops on their way to Syria), and Hezbollah all double down on their support. We're not going to put boots on the ground - Senator Graham explained that everyone's [read: both Republicans and Democrats] position is not to go there and ask an already war weary American public to indulge more human cost.
That leaves the United States with two options of either arming the rebels or creating a no-fly zone. Senators Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) and Graham, along with the Washington Post's David Ignatius all agreed that the government has adequately identified the moderate rebels to supply. David Gregory accurately pointed out that we can not track guns in this country so how are we going to be able to do that in Syria? On the other hand at one point, he also provided the counter that enforcing a no-fly zone could very well be that slippery slope of the United States becoming directly involved as voiced by Senator Mark Udall (D-CO). Neither choice sounds appealing and are accompanied by peril. History tells us that if we supply arms to the rebels that one day those very weapons could be used against us. If the U.S. coordinates at no-fly zone using our allies that that is like 'leading from behind' as we did in Libya, definitely something Republicans won't go for.
When you consider all those circumstances, it is understandable why the Obama Administration would be cautious; they just can not be indecisive. What they need to start with is stating a clear strategic goal for the United States in this conflict, and if that is to stop the killing then arming rebels (adding more guns to situation) is going to long delay that desired result.
The solution should be the United States and Russia collectively putting diplomatic pressure on both sides for a ceasefire, and then send in United Nation peace keeping troops to stabilize things on the ground. After which, a multinational group of inspectors should go in an verify whether chemical weapons have been used, hence determining whether or not Bashir Assad has a future. We understand that that 93,000 have perished and the United States is already late to the party, but we're in a no-win situation. The credibility of the United States is so tainted that we're blamed for not becoming involved soon enough, and then if we do the involvement is deemed inadequate. And vanquishing a dictator's power is licking extracting a ticked that's burrowed deep under the skin - not easy as illustrated. The Obama Administration realizes that because of past folly and a dearth of credibility we haven't any leverage to sway things toward a positive outcome. Unfortunately, one of the consequences is that we could lose another key ally in the region, King Abdullah and Jordan, which was of evident concern to all the Senators today. Mr. Udall stated that he feared for the entire region if Jordan were to become unstable.
The credibility deficit is compounded here at home by the NSA spying program, and how all that is playing out. As we said last week, positions are all over the map as illustrated by the opinions of today's guests. Senator Udall stated that he felt comfortable with the NSA's PRISM program that monitors the internet behavior of people outside the United States. However, he then explained his concerns with the collection of metadata and how it had the potential to infringe on an individual's fourth amendment rights.
Of course General Michael Hayden is going to defend these programs as he was part of the architectural team that put it all together. He can say that there haven't been abuses such as turning the PRISM program in the direction of U.S. citizens but how can we be sure. Andrea Mitchell played the healthy skeptic all program saying that after so many scandals, how can we have trust in such statements. As Senator Udall put it, it's a secret request to a secret court for a secret program.
We're able to have this rightful debate because of the information disclosed by Edward Snowden. However, what he did was wrong because it was all about self-gratification and elevation in trying to achieve international rebel hero worship status on the scale of Julian Assange, not about doing the right thing. Unfortunately we take example from our elected officials who are more concerned with self-promotion and pander that they forget governing is about arguing, compromising, and leading.
But also wrong is when David Ignatius said that we've had this debate about surveillance when warrantless wiretapping first came up. As The New York Times' James Risen pointed out, this surveillance state apparatus was being built without debate, nor public knowledge. That's key because there's no reversing it now, it's already done so now we're left to live with it. Congressman Scott (D-VA) gave several easy examples of how the system could be illegally turned against an individual, an intimidation tool used for gathering dirt on political enemies for instance, not just for tracking terrorists. Mr. Risen mentioned the potential for this evolving into a police state, pointing out that there has never been a true accounting of the surveillance program in totality.
Despite the very real possibility of abuse and an Orwellian 'utopia' down the road, fifty-six percent of Americans find the build up of the surveillance state acceptable, which is an unbelievable number. Our Republican political leaders have been stoking big government overreach outrage for years, but on the ultimate big brother issue, they advocate for it and ask us to trust them, as if there is some credible reason why we should.
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), former Director of the NSA and CIA – now a principal of The Chertoff Group -- Gen. Michael Hayden, Washington Post Columnist David Ignatius, New York Times national security reporter James Risen, and NBC’s foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell.
Sunday, June 09, 2013
6.9.13: Of Course They're Monitoring
Once again we find ourselves void of an episode of Meet The Press unable to take politicians' and reporters' statements to task, but with pleasure we'll opine on the week's biggest topic, which is the revelation that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting data on all American citizens... or all of those with either a phone or internet identification.
First, The Guardian in the UK reported that the NSA was collecting phone data on American citizens; specifically the two interlocutors' phone numbers, their locations, and the duration of the call. Then later in the week, the Washington Post reported that the NSA had a program entitled 'Prism' that collected data through Google, Yahoo, Facebook, et. al. on individuals overseas but that there was also mining of data from people living in the United States - in other words, us.
These stories have sent politicians, pundits, reporters, and commentators of all sorts spinning in a number of directions - everyone is all over the map. First and foremost, President Obama spoke out in favor of the NSA program in the name of national security. Make no mistake - the President has to answer to this for the American people, but it is not an Obama Administration scandal but this one is on Congress. Most Senators and House Members are in favor of the program, as they should be, because they authorized such activities through the Patriot Act - remember the warrantless wiretapping. However, this issue has seen Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and political opposite Rand Paul (R-KY) sharing the same opinion on this unprecedented privacy intrusion.
Our question is: what did you expect?
It was only a matter of time before it went from convenient to annoying to offensive. Follow us here. When you lose your phone, you can go to your local Verizon store (for example) and replace the phone where they offer the 'great' service of being able to restore your contacts for you. What a relief, right? Well, they have all that information so those contacts were never really private. Or you're at your computer and you visit Zappos looking for a new pair of shoes, then you visit other sites and advertisements for shoes are following you all over the place courtesy of Google's metadata tracking so you only see advertisements for the products you're interested in; quite annoying actually. So if Google and Verizon (among others) have your information and your communication habits then are subpoenaed by the Federal Government, they will comply. There is no doubt.
Those in favor of the program say that it is in the name of national security that the NSA collects this data, but is it at the expense of individual insecurity? Not necessarily, but there is a rapidly redefining of what privacy is that's making everyone uncomfortable, as it should. With that said, just know, and most people do, that when you sign up to any social media-type platform, that's fair game for anyone to look at... like a blog.
However, with the collection of the phone data as outlined above, you would think to yourself that they might well just have listened to the call. E-mails? Same thing. And is it is now, there are only two ways to go - you either shut the whole thing down or you live with this new reality. Something tells us that we've already implicitly endorsed the latter. And the reason we have is because we understand that our safety is now threatened by people using these tools to communicate, organize and plan terrorist attacks from abroad, and from here inside the United States, though all that monitoring apparatus failed in detecting the perpetrators of the bombing in Boston. Go figure.
Any comfort of privacy will now have to taken in anonymity, an overlooked amongst the millions type of thinking. It's like walking down a really busy city street - midtown Sixth Avenue in New York City at lunch hour for example. Even if you've never been there, just imagine walking down a street where there are so many people that you're looking at everyone but remembering no one, and the reason is because everyone's just walking down the street. Well that's all of us when the NSA are combing through data - ninety-nine percent of us are doing the same thing so nothing stands out and we're not bothered.
But there's our existential dread... everyone doing the same thing to maintain anonymity isn't privacy, that's conformity.
Or in more practical terms, the same lawmakers who authorized all this NSA big-brother eyeballing have also created an economic state where ninety-eight percent of us are so concerned with making ends meet that we couldn't be bothered with all this Constitutionally questionable behavior and spy stuff. Ignorance is bliss.
First, The Guardian in the UK reported that the NSA was collecting phone data on American citizens; specifically the two interlocutors' phone numbers, their locations, and the duration of the call. Then later in the week, the Washington Post reported that the NSA had a program entitled 'Prism' that collected data through Google, Yahoo, Facebook, et. al. on individuals overseas but that there was also mining of data from people living in the United States - in other words, us.
These stories have sent politicians, pundits, reporters, and commentators of all sorts spinning in a number of directions - everyone is all over the map. First and foremost, President Obama spoke out in favor of the NSA program in the name of national security. Make no mistake - the President has to answer to this for the American people, but it is not an Obama Administration scandal but this one is on Congress. Most Senators and House Members are in favor of the program, as they should be, because they authorized such activities through the Patriot Act - remember the warrantless wiretapping. However, this issue has seen Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and political opposite Rand Paul (R-KY) sharing the same opinion on this unprecedented privacy intrusion.
Our question is: what did you expect?
It was only a matter of time before it went from convenient to annoying to offensive. Follow us here. When you lose your phone, you can go to your local Verizon store (for example) and replace the phone where they offer the 'great' service of being able to restore your contacts for you. What a relief, right? Well, they have all that information so those contacts were never really private. Or you're at your computer and you visit Zappos looking for a new pair of shoes, then you visit other sites and advertisements for shoes are following you all over the place courtesy of Google's metadata tracking so you only see advertisements for the products you're interested in; quite annoying actually. So if Google and Verizon (among others) have your information and your communication habits then are subpoenaed by the Federal Government, they will comply. There is no doubt.
Those in favor of the program say that it is in the name of national security that the NSA collects this data, but is it at the expense of individual insecurity? Not necessarily, but there is a rapidly redefining of what privacy is that's making everyone uncomfortable, as it should. With that said, just know, and most people do, that when you sign up to any social media-type platform, that's fair game for anyone to look at... like a blog.
However, with the collection of the phone data as outlined above, you would think to yourself that they might well just have listened to the call. E-mails? Same thing. And is it is now, there are only two ways to go - you either shut the whole thing down or you live with this new reality. Something tells us that we've already implicitly endorsed the latter. And the reason we have is because we understand that our safety is now threatened by people using these tools to communicate, organize and plan terrorist attacks from abroad, and from here inside the United States, though all that monitoring apparatus failed in detecting the perpetrators of the bombing in Boston. Go figure.
Any comfort of privacy will now have to taken in anonymity, an overlooked amongst the millions type of thinking. It's like walking down a really busy city street - midtown Sixth Avenue in New York City at lunch hour for example. Even if you've never been there, just imagine walking down a street where there are so many people that you're looking at everyone but remembering no one, and the reason is because everyone's just walking down the street. Well that's all of us when the NSA are combing through data - ninety-nine percent of us are doing the same thing so nothing stands out and we're not bothered.
But there's our existential dread... everyone doing the same thing to maintain anonymity isn't privacy, that's conformity.
Or in more practical terms, the same lawmakers who authorized all this NSA big-brother eyeballing have also created an economic state where ninety-eight percent of us are so concerned with making ends meet that we couldn't be bothered with all this Constitutionally questionable behavior and spy stuff. Ignorance is bliss.
Sunday, June 02, 2013
6.2.13: Sacrificing Eric Holder
The big question to start with this week is if Attorney General Eric Holder should be fired, should step down, should be charged with perjury... all of those things. Tom Brokaw said it would be tough for him to stay on, however; Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Mr. Holder has done nothing to prevent him from continuing his job. So which is it? The politics of all these 'scandals' has been quite predictable, typical, and hypocritical on both sides, particularly with the A.P. and I.R.S. happenings. Republicans are hardly mentioning Benghazi at this point and they should hold that course because they've beaten it to death and looked disingenuous in the process. They seem less interested in the real problem of funding security at our outposts and their lack of interest in questioning the CIA, particularly David Petraeus. For the others, opponents of the administration have a clear, easy target - the Attorney General.
We all know that the laws in terms of what an Attorney General can and can not do are so nuanced that negotiating them is a complicated kabooki dance in and of itself. Technically, Mr. Holder didn't perjure himself but there are contradictions in his statements - when he knew things. He recused himself from the investigation of Associated Press journalists about leaks, but as the Attorney General you have to know what's going on, not just that it is going on. We agree with Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI) that the dragnet approach was overreach (seriously, not to be understated), and as we suggested in a prior column, you have to narrow the search to get the real facts.
With regard to the I.R.S. targeting scandal, Mr. Holder can not be trusted to investigate because of its partisan nature (right there should be a sign). Never mind the bigger problem of 'social welfare' organizations participating in politics and getting secret donations, which David Axelrod unsuccessfully tried to make the case for. The problem with listening to that argument is that no one has been held publicly responsible for this targeting so it rings hollow.
We view the A.P. scandal sort of the same way in which we view immigration. The onus is on the government. If someone wants to come to the United States for a better life, who are we to begrudge them that? For example, if conditions in this country were so bad that many people were thinking of immigrating to Germany to earn money, would you blame them? If the government decides that they don't want that to happen then it is their responsibility to protect the borders and make the process more humane. Same with leaks and the press, again the onus is on the government to keep these things secret and if they can not do that, you can not blame the press for reporting it. As we've said before, investigate those leaks from the inside. In both these examples, that doesn't excuse people from responsibility. Most undocumented immigrants aren't breaking all the other laws we have - let's think of the humanity of the situation. With regard to the press, they have to bear some responsibility that the information they publish could put lives in danger and it's a civic obligation that they inform authorities that they've come across this information. It's a critical balance that has to be managed well... by the Attorney General. For the most part, people have lost faith in Mr. Holder's ability to manage things properly.
[A note on Immigration: Senator Schumer said that he expected 70 votes in favor of the Gang of 8's bi-partisan immigration reform bill, but House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has stated that even though there will be wide consensus in the Senate, don't expect the same in the House as Republicans will block any reform. Just another example of why John Boehner is the worst House Speaker in the modern political era... Unbelievable.]
The comparisons made on today's program between Mr. Holder and Bush Administration Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzalez are superfluous with the exception that Presidents will always defend this particular appointee. The president will not 'sacrifice' him. Why? (And this is the rub with Eric Holder) Asking your chief law enforcement officer to step down is like a tacit admission of guilt that something was in fact illegally done and no administration, Democrat or Republican, is going to open up itself to that. Eric Holder is not going to step down - he's going to have to go head on into the storm and face it, despite what Congressman Rogers understandably described as a broader notion of a pattern of this kind of [misleading-type] activity. As David Axelrod referred it, Washington's 'favorite political blood sport of human sacrifice' will have to wait.
What always raises an eyebrow for us is when Mr. Rogers says that it undermines people's faith in government and its institutions. And to paraphrase Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), she said that people in her district feel betrayed. Really? Possibly Congressman Rogers less so, but Ms. Blackburn and Republicans in general have built their entire platform on how government is the problem, that it can not be trusted. So do they feel vindicated? Betrayed by some wasteful spending and targeting by the I.R.S.? Sure fine, but we feel betrayed by an administration that falsified evidence that got us into a war where over 4,000 service men and women died. How's that for a comparison?
Our general feeling is that politicians (people in the business of governing) who say that government is bad obviously are being disingenuous and don't have the best interest of all the American people at heart. If they did then they'd be able to recognize all the differences there are in this country and hence the necessity of compromise to move everyone forward.
One of the major negative consequences of these scandals is that we're not speaking about the things that are truly important to 73 percent of Americans, the economy and unemployment. Republican strategist Anna Navarro said that we have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time so we should be able to talk about both, however Washington obviously hasn't shown that it can do that - to our collective detriment. And of course, Republicans will not heed Senator Schumer's warning today that they shouldn't focus on 'scandals' too much.
Unemployment is the grave problem in America that has to be addressed. And no - repealing Obamacare as Ms. Blackburn suggested is not the cure. The lack of investment in infrastructure building - 'critical' Jonathan Alter rightly described it - is undoing us. Rebuilding our past accomplishments and investing in research and development for our future (and we put education in the 'development' part of the latter) are the most important ways forward. Also, as Mr. Alter pointed out, Congressman Paul Ryan's budget slashes infrastructure spending, R&D and Education funding without cutting the military. Ask yourself, would you be more worried that we don't have enough planes at our airbase in Aviano, Italy or that the bridge you're driving over every day to work might collapse at any moment?
However, when President Obama discusses these important economic issues, he's just changing the subject. That's our politically rhetorical reality.
And speaking of reality, we didn't want to leave out the discussion of how 40.4 percent of households in this country now have the woman as the primary bread winner. When this study came out this week, there was much debate about whether or not this was a good thing. Anna Navarro said today that it should just be something that each couple (family) figures out for itself. Our take is that it is neither good or bad, it's just how it is (reality) and shouldn't be used as any impetus to put people down or bring others up. It is up to individual families to figure it out, at this point.
Congresswoman Blackburn said that in today's economy of ideas, women particularly excel, which is great, but the way she said it suggested that men were weaker at producing ideas, which to be fair is not the case. What she also said was that women should be recognized by companies for their exceptional skills, and we agree. Actually, President Obama wholeheartedly agreed as well signing the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which requires equal pay for women for equal work. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) voted against that.
Round Table: former top adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod; Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN); author of the new book, “The Center Holds: Obama and his Enemies,” Jonathan Alter; Republican strategist Ana Navarro, and NY Times Columnist Tom Friedman.
We all know that the laws in terms of what an Attorney General can and can not do are so nuanced that negotiating them is a complicated kabooki dance in and of itself. Technically, Mr. Holder didn't perjure himself but there are contradictions in his statements - when he knew things. He recused himself from the investigation of Associated Press journalists about leaks, but as the Attorney General you have to know what's going on, not just that it is going on. We agree with Congressman Mike Rogers (R-MI) that the dragnet approach was overreach (seriously, not to be understated), and as we suggested in a prior column, you have to narrow the search to get the real facts.
With regard to the I.R.S. targeting scandal, Mr. Holder can not be trusted to investigate because of its partisan nature (right there should be a sign). Never mind the bigger problem of 'social welfare' organizations participating in politics and getting secret donations, which David Axelrod unsuccessfully tried to make the case for. The problem with listening to that argument is that no one has been held publicly responsible for this targeting so it rings hollow.
We view the A.P. scandal sort of the same way in which we view immigration. The onus is on the government. If someone wants to come to the United States for a better life, who are we to begrudge them that? For example, if conditions in this country were so bad that many people were thinking of immigrating to Germany to earn money, would you blame them? If the government decides that they don't want that to happen then it is their responsibility to protect the borders and make the process more humane. Same with leaks and the press, again the onus is on the government to keep these things secret and if they can not do that, you can not blame the press for reporting it. As we've said before, investigate those leaks from the inside. In both these examples, that doesn't excuse people from responsibility. Most undocumented immigrants aren't breaking all the other laws we have - let's think of the humanity of the situation. With regard to the press, they have to bear some responsibility that the information they publish could put lives in danger and it's a civic obligation that they inform authorities that they've come across this information. It's a critical balance that has to be managed well... by the Attorney General. For the most part, people have lost faith in Mr. Holder's ability to manage things properly.
[A note on Immigration: Senator Schumer said that he expected 70 votes in favor of the Gang of 8's bi-partisan immigration reform bill, but House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has stated that even though there will be wide consensus in the Senate, don't expect the same in the House as Republicans will block any reform. Just another example of why John Boehner is the worst House Speaker in the modern political era... Unbelievable.]
The comparisons made on today's program between Mr. Holder and Bush Administration Attorneys General John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzalez are superfluous with the exception that Presidents will always defend this particular appointee. The president will not 'sacrifice' him. Why? (And this is the rub with Eric Holder) Asking your chief law enforcement officer to step down is like a tacit admission of guilt that something was in fact illegally done and no administration, Democrat or Republican, is going to open up itself to that. Eric Holder is not going to step down - he's going to have to go head on into the storm and face it, despite what Congressman Rogers understandably described as a broader notion of a pattern of this kind of [misleading-type] activity. As David Axelrod referred it, Washington's 'favorite political blood sport of human sacrifice' will have to wait.
What always raises an eyebrow for us is when Mr. Rogers says that it undermines people's faith in government and its institutions. And to paraphrase Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), she said that people in her district feel betrayed. Really? Possibly Congressman Rogers less so, but Ms. Blackburn and Republicans in general have built their entire platform on how government is the problem, that it can not be trusted. So do they feel vindicated? Betrayed by some wasteful spending and targeting by the I.R.S.? Sure fine, but we feel betrayed by an administration that falsified evidence that got us into a war where over 4,000 service men and women died. How's that for a comparison?
Our general feeling is that politicians (people in the business of governing) who say that government is bad obviously are being disingenuous and don't have the best interest of all the American people at heart. If they did then they'd be able to recognize all the differences there are in this country and hence the necessity of compromise to move everyone forward.
One of the major negative consequences of these scandals is that we're not speaking about the things that are truly important to 73 percent of Americans, the economy and unemployment. Republican strategist Anna Navarro said that we have to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time so we should be able to talk about both, however Washington obviously hasn't shown that it can do that - to our collective detriment. And of course, Republicans will not heed Senator Schumer's warning today that they shouldn't focus on 'scandals' too much.
Unemployment is the grave problem in America that has to be addressed. And no - repealing Obamacare as Ms. Blackburn suggested is not the cure. The lack of investment in infrastructure building - 'critical' Jonathan Alter rightly described it - is undoing us. Rebuilding our past accomplishments and investing in research and development for our future (and we put education in the 'development' part of the latter) are the most important ways forward. Also, as Mr. Alter pointed out, Congressman Paul Ryan's budget slashes infrastructure spending, R&D and Education funding without cutting the military. Ask yourself, would you be more worried that we don't have enough planes at our airbase in Aviano, Italy or that the bridge you're driving over every day to work might collapse at any moment?
However, when President Obama discusses these important economic issues, he's just changing the subject. That's our politically rhetorical reality.
And speaking of reality, we didn't want to leave out the discussion of how 40.4 percent of households in this country now have the woman as the primary bread winner. When this study came out this week, there was much debate about whether or not this was a good thing. Anna Navarro said today that it should just be something that each couple (family) figures out for itself. Our take is that it is neither good or bad, it's just how it is (reality) and shouldn't be used as any impetus to put people down or bring others up. It is up to individual families to figure it out, at this point.
Congresswoman Blackburn said that in today's economy of ideas, women particularly excel, which is great, but the way she said it suggested that men were weaker at producing ideas, which to be fair is not the case. What she also said was that women should be recognized by companies for their exceptional skills, and we agree. Actually, President Obama wholeheartedly agreed as well signing the Lilly Ledbetter Act, which requires equal pay for women for equal work. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) voted against that.
Round Table: former top adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod; Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN); author of the new book, “The Center Holds: Obama and his Enemies,” Jonathan Alter; Republican strategist Ana Navarro, and NY Times Columnist Tom Friedman.
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