From Obama to Trump

by Russ Douthat

Feb. 27, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/opinion/sunday/from-obama-to-trump.html?comments#permid=17720886

This is without doubt THE dumbest column from Douthat yet.

What a harebrained, ignorant, dumb way to try and deflect from the self-destruction of the Conservative movement, which has been in the making since Ronald Reagan, at least, as evidenced not just by Trump, but by the "our greatest goal is to make Obama fail" Republican mantra.

The ONLY reason Obama has had to resort to "executive privilege" is because of the absolute blockade by the GOP of ANYTHING going through Congress - see their refusal to even give the Obama Budget a hearing or to even consider any Supreme Court nomination - not to mention the several "shutdowns" engineered by the GOP.

Geese, Douthat, get a life!

The Case for Rubio-Katich

by Ross Douthat

Feb. 23, 2016

http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/22/the-case-for-rubio-kasich/?comments#permid=17666778

More wishful thinking, or desperate daydreaming on the part of Conservative pundits -- Brooks in today's blog has given up on even that, speculating about what makes marriages tick, pop psychology at its worst.

Just listening to Kasich talk, he seems to be the only sane person left in the clown car - unless he goes off on the conservative issues, like Planned Parenthood or ObamaCare; then the crazy comes out in full force even with him.

All this speculation is really only so much hot air - the GOP has to learn to deal with the monsters it has created through its vicious negativity over the past several decades. Even Rubio, who is probably the only one left who would be an acceptable candidate for "the establishment", sounds like a fanatic when he gets into some of his pseudo-religious stump speeches - he sound more like a Christian caricature of the Islamic State than a sane, rational leader of the USA.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the almost certain GOP nominee, is inciting his followers to violence ("I'd like to punch him in the face", "in the good old days these guys would have been taken out on a stretcher"). 

And Cruz seems to be leading the GOP back to the "dirty tricks" era of Richard Nixon, with the almost daily revelations of little nasties his cmapaign orchestrates.

This is the group that many pundits have labeled a "strong GOP field" at the outset of the campaign...

A Little Reality on Immigration

By David Brooks

Feb. 19, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/19/opinion/a-little-reality-on-immigration.html?comments&_r=0#permid=17628223

It is interesting, that the token Conservatives on the NYT blogosphere seem just as frustrated by the hardening of the (brain) arteries we are seeing in the GOP today. Both Douthat and Brooks oftem write columns, which correctly describe the current dogmatic positions of the GOP as completely insane. One almost has to feel sorry for them.

This analysis of GOP immigration "policy" is correct in that it shows that the GOP's position is completely nonsensical, but it misses the essential point that Conservative positions in general float in a "fact free" universe, where either ignorance or purposeful falsifications rule the discussion. This is true of immigration, of climate change, of their tax policies, and the list goes on and on.

Aside from the dogmatic ignorance of many politicians, I blame the media to a large extent for the persistence of these fact free polical discussions. In the insane media policy of "fair and unbiased", which is interpreted to mean that journalists never challenge patently rediculous statements by politicians, the public is left holding the bag when a politician makes rediculous assertions about immigration, climate change, taxes, etc. The "after the fact" fact checks which are oftem made are too little too late. Journalists should be prepared to challenge statements made during interviews with hard facts, and not let them weasel out with canned political statements. Of course that would take courage and hard work in preparing for interviews...

The War After Scalia

by Ross Douthat

Feb. 16, 2016

http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/16/the-war-after-scalia/?comments#permid=17594323

By refusing to even consider ANY Obama nomination for a Scalia replacement, it seems to me that Mitch McConnell is violating his oath of office to "defend and uphold the Constitution", and thus guilty of an impeachable offense.

The Constitution seems to be to be pretty clear (and Scalia himself stated that his guiding principal in interpreting the Constitution is that it was written to be understood by the average voter), that the Senate has an OBLIGATION to give advice and consent to Presidential nominations. Refusal to even consider such a nomination for "advice and consent" is a clear violation.

It is not surprising the Douthat takes the "scorched earth" approach on this issue. It has become obvious, even before this current crisis, that the Supreme Court is not the scholarly, unbiased final arbiter of Constitutional issues, but that it is just another tool to further the social prejudices of one side or the other. Thus, not only is Congress completely paralyzed by the dogmatic intransigence of Conservatives (shutting down the government is, to them, a valid tool in this dogmatic battle), no they are ready to paralyze the Supreme Court also.

Just one more sign, that the US no longer has a functioning Democracy...

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Democracy-America-Claus-Gehner-ebook/dp/B005...

Antonin Scalia, Conservative Legal Giant

by Russ Douthat

Feb. 13, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/13/opinion/antonin-scalia-conservative-legal-giant.html?comments#permid=17568128

My heart goes out to Justice Scalia's family, as they mourn the death of their husband and father. 

That said, I can only hope that the disastrous effects his decisions have had on the US can now begin to be reversed. 

His decision on Citizens United officially changed the US from a democracy with one person, one vote to one in which the amount of money one has determines the degree of influence one has on elections and public policy, essentially back to a country where, for all practical purposes, only propertied persons have a vote.

His decisions on the 2nd Amendment have accelerated the decline of the US on its path of random and not so random gun violence, causing more than 30,000 deaths a year. In that decision, after stating that his guiding principal is that the Constitution was written to be understood by the average voter, Justice Scalia launches into the most convoluted arguments, defying fifth grade reading and comprehension skills, to argue that the "prefatory clause" has no influence on the intent and meaning of the entire Amendment, that it was, in essence, only a meaningless appendage.

Later in his opinion Justice Scalia engages in an equally convoluted set of arguments to show that "Arms" in the Amendment refers only to hand guns and possible long guns for personal protection, not all the weaponry needed by a State Militia to protect itself from Federal encroachment. Even Justice Scalia did not want tanks and machine guns in the hands of individuals.

When Hillary Clinton Killed Feminism

Maureen Dowd, Feb. 13, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/opinion/sunday/when-hillary-clinton-killed-feminism.html?comments#permid=17565643

Feminism is a side show in this election. It is certainly true that Millennials (meaningless and simplistic label) see the world much differently than the "feminists" of 50 years ago. Women today can assume for themselves opportunities and rights which women of 50 years ago could only dream about and had to fight for.

What characterizes primary voters both right an left is their frustration with government which seems not to be able to govern anymore. Judging by "people on the street" interviews, primary voters on both sides and of ALL ages are looking for simplistic answers, which Trump/Cruz on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left are providing.

Ignoring the GOP primaries, because, quite frankly, they are embarrassing, on the Democratic side, for all the balcony about Hillary Clintons untrustworthiness and dishonesty, she is the one who is actually trying to provide honest assessments of what needs to be done and how it can possibly be done.

This, of course, is boring compared to Bernie Sanders' simplistic slogans ("we WILL break up the big banks", "we WILL provide free college for all", "we WILL implement Medicare for all", etc.). But these claims are fraudulent. His Congressional record is anything but "revolutionary", accomplishing nothing. His health care plan is so full of optimistic and unrealistic assumptions as to be laughable - Hillary Clinton knows more about single payer health care plans, and knows first hand the difficulty of implementing it.

The Orphaned ’90s

by Ross Douthat, Feb. 13, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/14/opinion/sunday/the-orphaned-90s.html?comments#permid=17565165

What Ross Douthat seems to forget is that 20+ years have passed since Bill Clinton's presidency. As in any administration where a Democratic President had to deal with a GOP dominated Congress - remember the "Contract with America"? - what was actually achieved was the result of compromises between the GOP Congress and the Dem President.

Since then we have had "W", the dumbest and most destructive President in my lifetime, and we have a GOP which is exclusively interested in waging dogmatic wars ("the highest priority is to make Obama fail"), rather than govern the country.

The "establishment" GOP wants to return to the Reagan years - note that the Reagan Presidency was the most corrupt in history, in terms of government officials indicted and convicted, and he popularized the notion that "government is the problem", which has now come back to haunt the GOP "establishment" itself.

The mood of the primary electorate has shifted to the extremes on both ends of the spectrum, with Trump/Cruz on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left. But that electorate has always in the past come to its senses and nominated candidates on both sides who actually had a clue on how to govern. I'm not sure on the GOP side, but on the Democratic side it will become increasingly obvious that Bernie Sanders, for all his skill at highlighting the ills of current American social, economic and political realties, has no clue on how to actually implement change, other than shouting slogans.

Bill Clinton Unleashes Stinging Attack on Bernie Sanders

By JONATHAN MARTIN

FEB. 7, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/us/politics/bill-clinton-after-months-of-restraint-unleashes-stinging-attack-on-bernie-sanders.html?comments#permid=17498441

We need to introduce reality into the analysis on Senator Sanders' campaign promises, but I'm not sure Bill's impassioned comments are helpful in that regard.

Sanders, on the left, is using the mirror image of the same frustration which Donald Duck is using on the right, and using meaningless slogans to fire up his supporters. Sander's promises ("I WILL break up the big banks", "I WILL end income and wealth inequality", "I WILL implement Medicare for all") are just as cynically unrealistic as Donald Duck's promise to "build a wall and have Mexico pay for it".

The Sanders' "revolution" is a complete mirage - we are still a representative democracy - just calling for a "social revolution" is cynical nonsense without the years of hard work to make it happen; his many many years in Congress are far short of actually working on a revolution. His much recited tenure as chairman of the VA committee was a complete flop in terms of "revolutionary change"; at best it was a compromise to fix some of the worst problems, and even Sanders admits it was too little, too late.

Even worse, as part of his revolutionary rhetoric (because he KNOWS it cannot be implemented), Sanders is calling for mob rule. Here an excerpt from the most recent Democratic Debate in NH:

"No, you just can’t negotiate with Mitch McConnell. Mitch is gonna have to look out the window and see a whole lot of people saying, 'Mitch, stop representing the billionaire class. Start listening to working families.' "

Europe's Huddled Masses

by Roger Cohen

Feb. 5, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/05/opinion/europes-huddled-masses.html?comments#permid=17454798

Another column by Mr. Cohen which I agree with almost completely - contrary to most other American journalists, who write about Europe as some strange and faraway place, to be shunned as a collection of "failed socialist states", Mr. Cohen writes with on-site experience and a real first hand appreciation of the true miracle that is the EU.

The one area where I disagree with Mr. Cohen is in his implicit and explicit assumption, that the US has the power, and the intellectual understanding of the issues, to "lead" Europe out of the current crisis.

The sad reality is, that the US, since the end of the Cold War, has played a mostly destructive role in terms of peace and stability in the world. As far back as the 1950's, with the CIA's overthrow of a legitimate Iranian government at the behest of US oil interests, the US has sown the seeds of Middle East chaos, coming to a catastrophic climax of destruction with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As with the US-caused financial collapse of 2008, Europe is now left to try to pick up the pieces from chaos left by US ignorance and short-sightedness.

Europe, to survive, needs more cooperation and more coordination, not retrenchment from the Euro and Schengen. But as long as Europe sits back and waits for the US to come to the rescue (as it did during the breakup of Yougoslavia) there is little incentive for Europe to pull closer together. So in a perverse way, this crisis may be good for Europe - ok, wishful thinking, maybe.

2 Questions for Bernie Sanders

by Nicholas Kristof

Feb. 4, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/04/opinion/2-questions-for-bernie-sanders.html?comments#permid=17454387

Finally someone in the media is asking the right questions!

As someone who became politically conscious as a high school student in Germany in the 1960's, I have always considered myself a "Social Democrat", and as such, I agree with all of Bernie Sanders' criticisms of the current US social, political and economic ills.

However, given the realities of today's social and political environment in the US, there is no way that Mr. Sanders' "promises" (I WILL implement Medicare for all, I WILL implement tuition free college, I WILL break up the big banks, etc.) can be implemented. And the sad reality is, that, given his decades of experience in the Congress, he KNOWS that those promises cannot be realized, and he is thus knowingly misleading his followers.

Take his much self-praised work on a "landmark" Veterans Bill. Given the continuing desaster that is the care for veterans, even he admits that this bill is too little and too late. And the composition of Congress will not appreciably change in this election cycle, even with his much ballyhooed "social revolution".

In some ways, Sanders' simplistic promises are even worse than those from Trump. Sanders has enough experience in Congress to KNOW that he cannot implement his promises, while Trump is ignorant enough to actually believe that he can "build a wall and have Mexico pay for it".