This and That and Open Thread

"California All the Way" - Luna

Sorry for the dearth of posting.  Had to take the lad off to first year of college up in New Jersey on Wednesday.  Lots of driving and big doings and the strange feeling of saying goodbye, which is now much more of a ritual than back when I did this drill as a kid.  Fingers crossed.

- So Paul Ryan has now clearly admitted that there is no difference between Todd Akin and him on the issue of abortion.    The extremity of his position -- that victims of rape should have to bear their victimizer's offspring -- is really extraordinary and one that the Obama campaign should hit him on over again and again.  As Roy put it, "Rape: What a Beautiful Choice;" (I loved his wonderful phrase "happy rape babies" - or "rabies" as I call them.)  Let's be clear -- Paul Ryan is not remotely serious -- he's a godamned right wing nut.

- Jamelle Bouie has a good piece on racism in and its continued potency in American electoral politics.  The notion that racists are equally divided between the parties is bullshit as anyone who knows people well knows.

- A lot of people have been picking on Niall Ferguson -- and deservedly and delightfully so.  I enjoyed this slightly more sober takedown of him and why he has reduced himself to a partisan joke.

- As I enjoyed Amanda chortling at the notion of Romney as sex symbol.  Actually, reading the absurd piece by Kevin Williamson in National Review that she is is critiquing makes me think that Amanda's laughter is understated -- this is some bizarro, sexist stuff.  Does this guy really think that women think this way?  Has Kevin Williamson ever talked to a real live women?

What say you? 

Comments

[nancy]

Amanda chortling. Well, you knew we'd pick up the slack [previous thread] while you were busy, didn't you?

What a bunch of jackasses. The Kevin Williamson piece will, as they say, live on in infamy. A super-dooper 'keeper'. Archival. Rich Lowry frat bros unite. With the secret brotherhood handshake guy sign.

All best of luck to the lad and year one. It's a big, big time, that one.

[oddjob]

I get where Amanda's coming from, but I think she forgot to consider that there are also those who find any politician in a position of influence sexy merely because the politician is influential. If the Beltway contains those folks along with the permanently nerdy then the constant exposure to those folks might warp a pundit's judgement about what constitutes sexy.

[jeanne marie]

I don't know, but I kinda think Obama's sexy BECAUSE he makes goofy faces while reading a book to a child. Just sayin'

[jeanne marie]

But seriously, Williamson believes that siring boys is a strong indication of great leadership. Wha?

[big bad wolf]

i like amanda's piece. i tend to agree with oddjob's point, though, and for sure with jeanne marie's. my question is this: does anyone know who the "genuinely hip" are? this is not simply middle-age befuddlement, i've been puzzled by this for 35 years or so. most of those identified as genuinely hip have always seemed to me to be mostly the trend followers who can cut the other trend followers most sharply. it makes me think that if there are such things as genuinely hip people they number in the mid-double digits.

[low-tech cyclist]

I think Stephen Marche and TNC have nailed Niall Ferguson and the pundit class in general, respectively.

Marche:

Ferguson's critics have simply misunderstood for whom Ferguson was writing that piece. They imagine that he is working as a professor or as a journalist, and that his standards slipped below those of academia or the media. Neither is right. Look at his speaking agent's Web site. The fee: 50 to 75 grand per appearance. That number means that the entire economics of Ferguson's writing career, and many other writing careers, has been permanently altered. Nonfiction writers can and do make vastly more, and more easily, than they could ever make any other way, including by writing bestselling books or being a Harvard professor. Articles and ideas are only as good as the fees you can get for talking about them. They are merely billboards for the messengers.

TNC:

But if you have opportunity, if you don't mind flying, if writing is secondary to you, then you might have what it takes to live the high life. From what I can tell, a large number of America's more prominent pundits fit into that category. These are people who have realized that there is more money in talking than there is in listening. For this class of "writers" writing isn't the point, so much as having a platform for their headshots, and their ideas. You can imagine the effect this dynamic could have on an opinion class.

I don't think we have to imagine. It's right in front of us.

[oddjob]

I kinda think Obama's sexy BECAUSE he makes goofy faces while reading a book to a child.

:)

[kathy a.]

best to the lad with his college adventure!

just because people exist who grovel after powerful folks does not make the powerful folks "sexy" or "hip" to normal people. it is creepy to think about politicians in terms of sexiness, anyway. that is not what we hire them for.

i can tell you what is not sexy, though -- putting someone in charge of anything who believes i am an inferior human because of my gender, and who believes he/she knows better than i how to run my life.

williamson's piece says an awful lot about the dark, twisty recesses of his own psyche.

[Sir Charles]

oddjob,

Well, you're right, there always seems to be a certain audience of admirers for politicos. It defies explanation to me really.

jeanne marie,

Having fist bumped with Obama, I can see the case for him. He's incredibly lean, comports himself gracefully, and is really comfortable in his own skin -- especially for a politician. (Bill Clinton, who definitely has his fans on this front, has the opposite appeal I think -- he looks at you like you're the only person in the world and that he desperately wishes he had more time to spend with you. Clinton needs your love -- Obama really doesn't.)

bbw,

Mmmmmmm. I think that hip -- to the extent anyone cares about it -- tends to actually have that same quality of indifference that Obama can exhibit. (Washington, home of the striving student council president or debate team member, is a decidedly unhip place. There is a kind of middle brow sensibility here that pretty much snuffs out any hint of hip.)

Actually, Dean Wareham -- see video above -- strikes me as an incredibly hip guy.

[Sir Charles]

l-t c,

Yeah, I read Marche's piece as well and that made sense to me.

It's pretty amazing to be an academic and to then have the possibility of doing one speech a month and making $600-900,000 a year. That's crazy easy money -- especially for someone who spent a decent part of their career lecturing people. Talk about no sweat riches.

[Lex]

LTC beat me to the punch.

A friend in political PR told me several years ago that at least on the right, the career path now is to become a "personality" -- write something outrageous, get invited onto cable news to repeat and elaborate upon it, perhaps get a book contract from Regnery or one of the other wingnut-welfare outlets, and then, finally, to start getting booked for speeches, where the real money is.

I've seen it happen too many times to believe anything but that my friend is on the money, so to speak. And whether or not you think there should be a comparable infrastructure and career path on the left, the fact is that there isn't. And buliding one would take a couple of decades.

[kathy a.]

wapo blogger reverses course, reports on GOP's deep and abiding mistrust of women.

and now for a change of pace -- tax law professor thinks romney cheated on taxes using an illegal conversion of management fees to capital gains. (personally, i do not think that capital gains should be taxed at a lower rate than earned income.)

both tips from balloon juice. and both are sweet, heading into the GOP love-fest next week.

[oddjob]

I've seen it happen too many times to believe anything but that my friend is on the money,

It certainly explains Sarah Palin's political career choices better than anything else does.

[low-tech cyclist]

Had to take the lad off to first year of college up in New Jersey on Wednesday.

That's going to be quite a change, both for him and for you.

I sent my son off to his first day of kindergarten on Tuesday. (Should I mention that I went off to kindergarten in 1959?) Just the most obvious of lots of changes, in his case: he's riding a bike without the training wheels, he's dribbling a soccer ball quite adroitly, he's walking across streams on fallen logs, and a plethora of lesser things as well - a sudden explosion of skills. Kid's spreading his wings, and it's a real joy to be a part of that.

[low-tech cyclist]

But seriously, Williamson believes that siring boys is a strong indication of great leadership. Wha?

Two words: Henry VIII.

[kathy a.]

LTC -- first day of kindergarten is indeed a very big deal! and i loved that age -- so much happening, so fast. being there for all that is the part that counts.

it is just insane that people believe the "siring" -- a random and common biological occurrence -- demonstrates any character traits of a male person. it's a damned sperm! there are billions of them, because sperm are not smart! they are disposable; they are designed to mostly fail.

we are at a place, not for the first time, where people who wish to rule everyone's lives actually think a particularly lucky sperm trumps an entire human woman. that makes me feel really really special.

[oddjob]

"I love being home, in this place where Ann and I were raised, where but the both of us were born, Ann was born at Henry Ford hospital, I was born at Harper hospital. No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised,"
- Mitt Romney, campaigning in Michigan.

[kathy a.]

oddjob -- yeah, he had to go the extra step and bring in the birthers. that's special, too.

from maddow's blog: the republican convection theme is, "we did build it!" ha ha ha ha!

[kathy a.]

oooh -- republican women for obama.

[oddjob]

republican women for obama.

Nice ad. :)

[nancy]

Birthering. Wow. You go Mitt.

If he keeps this up, someone is going to ask a few loud obvious questions, like what his stand is on IVF and surrogate birth mothers. One gets the sense with Romney that in all his ham-handedness, he can never ever see when to leave well enough alone. Here's where his birthing discussions lead . It's your platform Mitt.

In a scattershot fashion, I checked the number of progeny produced by these contraception/abortion/stem-cell research banning, tranvaginal wand-wielding GOP plankholders.

Boehner -- 3 [family of origin, 12 children]
Cantor --3
McConnell -- 3
Ryan -- 3
Gingrich -- 2
K. McCarthey -- 2
S. King --3
P. King --2
Gohmert -- 3
Grassley -- 5
DeMint --4
Lamar Smith -- 2
McMorris-Rodgers -- 2
B. Quayle -- 1
R.Perry -- 2
Kasich -- 2
R. Scott -- 2
J. Roberts -- 2
Alito -- 2
Thomas -- 1

and Scalia, father of 9. Yer amazing rhythm methods at work.

[oddjob]

"Mitt Romney invited voters on Tuesday to “learn more about my religious beliefs and the practices of my faith,” but the Mormon church’s official position on rape and abortion is that a woman may terminate a pregnancy only after a “forcible rape” — a term the presumptive Republican nominee for president has spent much of the week trying to repel from his campaign...."

(May be hidden behind a wall since it's an article from today's Boston Globe.)

[oddjob]

"A progressive group called on Republican National Committee leader Pat Rogers to step down on Friday after emails showed him telling New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez’s staff that meeting with a group of American Indians “dishonored” Gen. George Armstrong Custer, the 19th century commander who killed scores of American Indians...."

Unbelievable....

[kathy a.]

the fabulous roy zimmerman has a timely 50th piece to his series on voting republican.

[kathy a.]

not much i can say about guns, besides what i've said already -- hate 'em. but here's a little something for all those people who think the solution is for everyone to carry weapons, because then they can just shoot the bad guy: the 9 wounded in NYC were all shot by police, who were right there and responded swiftly when the shooter started shooting.

[oddjob]

Not that it's a surprise, but it's now clear that Akin's polling just horribly in Missouri.

[nancy]

A few more GOP kiddo stats: (and I know we all already knew this intuitively, but what the heck, it's a quiet Saturday)

Issa -- 1
Scott Brown, centerfold -- 2 girls no less
L. Graham -- 0
Ayotte -- 2
Haley -- 2
Coburn -- 3
Priebus -- 2
Cornyn -- 2

My impression, and I won't go back to quantify, is that the progeny count is more heavily female to male. Henry VIII indeed.

Oh, and the guy in Georgia, Rep. England, who compared women to domestic animals in his insistence that a woman carrying a stillborn child should be forced to continue her pregnancy without intervention... 'cause whatever...as near as I can find, he has no children, but lots of farm animals. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

[low-tech cyclist]

Apparently Romney is now touting Romneycare in order to appeal to women voters. I don't think that's gonna be a big success, especially considering:

He was for it before he was against it before he was for it!

[kathy a.]

yep. women are going to totally ignore that his party wishes to strip them of reproductive choice, and also ignore that his party wishes to destroy "obamacare," and they'll just, ya know, trust The Man.

he has an awful lot of faith in people trusting him. tax returns? trust me! actual tax proposals? trust me!