Poison Pen Prize

Gail Collins riffs on the bad writing of politicians. My bad writing did not make it past the Times moderators,* so here it is:

If you're going to go as far as Europe looking for politicians who plagiarize, include Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Germany's defense minister who is/was the country's most popular politician. He resigned earlier this week amid allegations that he plagiarized parts of his doctoral dissertation. One imagines that his resignation is a subtle admission of guilt. That's Guttenberg, not Gutenberg, which without that extra "t" would have been funnier.

Can't tell if this is Huck or Pinocchio, but as they say in Arkansas, "same difference."But I would leave the worst literary crime to our own Mike Huckabee. I refer to a section in one of his many heartwarming books that you must have somehow skipped over last week in your exhaustive study of the vast body of Works of Huckabee. (At least one of the literary works explains why Huck no longer has an actual vast body.)

Our Huck tried a Tom Sawyerish sidestep to get out of what very charitably can be called the Whopper of the Week in which he said that "one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya." "His" being "Barack Obama's." At least he properly used the possessive. Still, since we all know that Obama was reared in Hawaii & Indonesia, Huck implies that he doesn't know anything. I think you said as much yourself last week.

In his radio interview with some right-wing host, Huck went on to elaborate on Obama's jaded view of the Mau Mau Revolution against British rule, a bloody affair which no Brit today would attempt to defend. (In fact, neither did Winston Churchill -- he opposed the British abuse of the Mau Maus. More on Sir Winnie below.)

It turns out this imaginary Mau Mau-Obama connection is something Huck has given a lot of thought. In fact, he wrote about it. In a book titled Simple Government (probably should have had a subtitle For the Simple-Minded and Credulous), Huck expressed his displeasure at Obama's having removed a bust of Churchill from the Oval Office. Here's part of the offending passage:

The British newspaper the Daily Telegraph explained Obama's strange behavior: 'Churchill has less happy connotations for Mr. Obama than for those American politicians who celebrate his wartime leadership. It was during Churchill's second premiership that Britain suppressed Kenya's Mau Mau rebellion. Kenyans allegedly tortured by the colonial regime included one Hussein Onyango Obama, the President's grandfather.'

Every president is the keeper of our American narrative, 'our story.' He is the commander in chief, yes, but he is also commemorator in chief....

President Obama's emphasis on his story rather than history has become symptomatic of his tenure. He is going to impose his agenda on Americans, and he doesn't care if we don't share it, don't believe in it, or don't want it.

First, Huck did not mention in his well-researched masterpiece that Obama replaced the Churchill bust with one of Abraham Lincoln, one of Obama's heroes.

Second, according to British historian David Anderson, whom Justin Elliott of Salon interviewed, Obama's grandfather could not have been tortured by the Brits in the Mau Mau Revolution, because he lived in another part of Kenya where there was no rebellion. The scholarly Anderson said of Huckabee's assertion, that it was "stir-fry crazy."

Third, the whole point of Huck's cloying, totally inaccurate passage is the standard right-wing meme: "Obama is not one of 'us.'"

So I'm giving Mike Huckabee, potential presidential candidate, my Poison Pen Prize for the week. Or month.

* Update: my comment showed up this morning on the second page of comments, but this version has a few fewer typos. And it comes with links!

The Commentariat -- March 5

CW: Michael Cooper of the New York Times has a mini-profile/interview of David Koch, who was in Cambridge, Massachusetts yesterday to open a cancer research center at MIT for which he has contributed $100 million to get his name on the building. Oh, and he has/had prostate cancer, so he says he's much more interested in cancer research than in politics, had no idea who Scott Walker was, yadayadayada. My favorite paragraph in an article about a guy who has spent millions in support of candidates who promise to cut government spending on poor & middle-class people & of course on those nasty EPA regulators:

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Mr. Koch warned that government spending cuts could impede cancer research. And he urged donors to fill the gap.

     ... No shit.

It's a pleasure to be with you in San Francisco. But then, I have to confess, it's a pleasure to be anywhere but Washington, D.C. -- a place where so many people are lost in thought because it is such unfamiliar territory. -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates, at an event in September 2010

Thom Shanker of the New York Times: "Even for a particularly outspoken defense secretary, [Robert] Gates has reached a new level of candor.... He sharply criticized members of the House of Representatives this week for spending money on Humvees that the Army did not want instead of buying surveillance systems needed to protect troops. In recent speeches, he has rebuked military leaders for clinging to ancient concepts of war — and by ancient he means before Sept. 11, 2001. And he has cited the painful experiences still unfolding in Afghanistan and Iraq to warn of grave risks if the military again intervenes in the Muslim world, this time in Libya, using tones far more grim than others in the Obama cabinet."

Here are shocking statistics from Michael Greenstone & Adam Looney of the Brookings Institution: "... there has been a sharp decline in employment rates for men, particularly lower-skill men with less than a college degree. Today, only 66 percent of American prime-aged men hold full-time jobs, down from 80 percent in 1970. Further, the reduction in work is greater for the less-educated (79 percent of high-school graduates held a full-time job in 1970 versus 57 percent today.) ... Earnings have not stagnated but have declined sharply. The median wage of the American male has declined by almost $13,000 after accounting for inflation in the four decades since 1969. This is a reduction of 28 percent!"

Fareed Zakaria will host Hans Rosling this Sunday at 8:00 pm ET & PT to discuss world economic growth. Late last year, we ran Rosling's compelling four-minute video on the same subject: Here's a preview of the CNN show:

     ... You can see Rosling's BBC video here on YouTube.

Thursday, President Obama talked to the crew of Discovery aboard the International Space Station. Includes a joke:

     ... Here's a related story from space.com.

Local News

"Wisconsin Wobblies." Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal: "... three Republican state senators may defect on the collective-bargaining reform vote.... Democrats remain in exile to prevent the necessary quorum. But Republicans in the Senate hold a 19-14 majority, so GOP Gov. Scott Walker can afford to lose no more than two Republican senators on this pivotal vote. On Wednesday, Republicans held a 'unity' press conference that was attended by all but one senator, Dale Schultz. But a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showing that 62% of respondents oppose curtailing collective-bargaining rights for public-sector workers ... suggests that the GOP position may be losing some support among independent voters. Meanwhile, the unions have turned up the heat by launching recall efforts against at least five of the GOP senators."

Welcome to Louisiana, 1935. Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: "A 78-year-old Louisiana state prisoner was surgically castrated this week at a hospital in Baton Rouge as part of a plea deal in a child molestation case.... [Francis Phillip] Tullier was back in prison recuperating and was scheduled to leave prison next week. He will be registered as a child sexual predator. In 2008, Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a bill authorizing judges to order chemical or surgical castration on the first offense of certain sexual crimes, and mandating it on the second offense, but so far there is no record of such a sentence being handed down under the new law...."

Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun: "In one of the most brazen schemes in Nevada history, gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid’s campaign formed 91 shell political action committees that were used to funnel three quarters of a million dollars into his campaign, circumventing contribution limits and violating at least the spirit – and maybe the letter – of the laws governing elections. Reid, who was fully aware of what was done, essentially received more than $750,000 from one PAC – 75 times the legal limit -- after his team created dozens of smaller PACS that had no other purpose other than to serve as conduits from a larger entity that the candidate funded by asking large donors for money." Reid, a Democrat, is Sen. Harry Reid's son. He lost the election.

News Ledes

AP: "Alberto Granado, who accompanied Ernesto 'Che' Guevara on a 1952 journey of discovery across Latin America that was immortalized in Guevara's memoir and on-screen in 'The Motorcycle Diaries,' died in Cuba on Saturday. He was 88." Update: the New York Times has an obituary here.

New York Times: "Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s militia stormed the rebels controlling the town of Zawiyah on Saturday morning in what two residents described as a 'massacre.'” ...

... AP: "Moammar Gadhafi's forces on Saturday broke through rebel lines at [Zawiya,] an opposition-held city that is closest to Tripoli, in a dawn attack that could prove crucial to the regime's defense of the Libyan capital, witnesses said."

... Washington Post: "Massive crowds turned out across the Arab world for a Friday of mostly peaceful protests, although the Iraqi government responded with a forceful crackdown and at least three people were killed in Yemen. In Egypt, the huge crowd that had gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square cheered as the country's newly appointed prime minister [Essam Sharaf] waded into throngs of protesters and asked for their support and help."

St. Petersburg Times: "After the state Supreme Court ruled in his favor and the federal government begrudgingly accepted his refusal, Gov. Rick Scott emerged victorious Friday in his effort to kill high-speed rail in Florida. The death knell came when the court turned down a last-minute lawsuit from two state senators to save the Tampa-Orlando line and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced he would send $2.4 billion earmarked for Florida to other states."

New York Times: "House Republicans quietly moved Friday to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that bans federal recognition of same-sex marriages, saying they would step in to argue for the measure’s constitutionality after the Obama administration’s decision to stop defending it."

AP: "The United States is increasing pressure on Sri Lanka to investigate the deaths of thousands of civilians at the end of its civil war. Rights groups contend a Sri Lankan government commission has demonstrated no intent of doing it."

The Commentariat -- March 4

** Katharine Seelye of the New York Times: "Three weeks after a scathing grand jury report accused the Philadelphia Archdiocese of providing safe haven for as many as 37 priests who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse or inappropriate behavior toward minors, most of those priests remain active in the ministry. The possibility that even one predatory priest, not to mention three dozen, might still be serving in parishes — 'on duty in the archdiocese today, with open access to new young prey,' as the grand jury put it — has unnerved many Roman Catholics here and sent the church reeling in the latest and one of the most damning episodes in the American church since it became engulfed in the sexual abuse scandal nearly a decade ago."

Paul Krugman: "Though we finally seem to be climbing out of a very deep hole, many people on the political right want to send us sliding right back down again."

Boehner Sets Up Lucy's Tee, Invites Obama to Kick. Alexander Bolton of The Hill: "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has privately assured President Obama that House Republicans will not attack him if he makes a proposal to reform entitlement spending, according to sources familiar with the offer. Moreover, Boehner has personally promised Obama that he will stand side-by-side with him to weather the strong political backlash expected from any proposal to cut entitlement costs." ...

... Boehner Wants the President to go First Because ... Naftali Bendavid & Janet Hook of the Wall Street Journal: "House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that he's determined to offer a budget this spring that curbs Social Security and Medicare, despite the political risks, and that Republicans will try to persuade voters that sacrifices are needed."

Worse than a Banana Republic. Karen Garcia has an excellent post on a Human Rights Watch report on U.S. workplace laws: "The Human Rights report story, which was buried in last week’s Times and got little corporate media attention, points out that the United States is an 'extreme outlier' when it comes to family-friendly workplace policies. Of 179 other countries in the developed world, the USA is alone in not providing mandatory, extended paid maternity leave. And contrary to the constant haranguing of our politicians that social safety net programs are the cause of our deficit, the truth is that nations with humane employment laws actually do better economically." Read her whole post. You can read the HRW report here.

The USSR on Lake Mendota: "Lil Bird," writing in the DailyKos, reports that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's team herded a small group of older protesters in to listen to his budget address. State troopers sat them in the back of the chamber on folding chairs & controlled their every reaction, manhandling & detaining a few who obeyed their every command. Read the whole post. If this is true, and I don't really doubt it, as reader Walt W., who sent me this link, wrote, "It's enough to make you gag."

Aluf Benn of Haaretz: Realpolitick may force Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to move from hard right to center. Two reasons: (1) "U.S. President Barack Obama’s veto against the condemnation of West Bank settlements at the UN Security Council brought home to Netanyahu that Israel has no more friends in the international community." (2) "Domestically, Netanyahu has taken a dive in public opinion polls...."

Alan Cowell, a Paris-based correspondent for the New York Times, on "how the West dealt with [Muammar Gaddafi,] the Libyan leader, over many years, escorting him into a kind of respectability that offered commercial advantage for those prepared to make the pilgrimage to his Bedouin tent — the accolade he sought from a world that once spurned him." Cowell, who is British, is particularly hard on the governments of both Tony Blair & David Cameron.

Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "State officials said Thursday that damage to the marble inside and out the State Capitol would cost an estimated $7.5 million.... Many of the papers and banners posted in the state Capitol were put up using painter’s tape, which is employed to minimize effects on walls." CW:  (1) If you believe the state's estimate, then you'll believe those people Bill O'Reilly showed protesting in shirtsleeves in front of palm trees were, as he implied, violent teachers in Madison in winter. (2) Alternatively, maybe Scott Walker has a buddy in the marble restoration business.

Right Wing World

Tim Egan of the New York Times on fiction by Mike Huckabee.

Nate Silver rates the Newt's chances for winning the Republican presidential nomination: "Despite his being more certain to run than several other candidates, betting markets put Mr. Gingrich’s chances of winning the nomination at 15-to-1 against; those seem like about the right odds for such a parlay." ...

... Jeanne Cummings of Politico gives a withering account of "Newt Gingrich’s bizarre launch of his expected 2012 presidential bid." ...

... BTW, I found somebody else -- well, an anonymous somebody else (I hate that!) -- who refers to Gingrich as "the Newt." "NotGeorgeEliot," as nearly as I can tell, is writing a novel which s/he calls "TwitLit" on the 2012 Republican presidential race. NGE is writing this "novel" on Twitter. I've retweeted his first few entries on my account (link above), & they're okay. We'll see how it goes. He's concentrating on Newt so far. -- Constant Weader

Bobby Jindal's Bad Day. Jan Moller of the New Orleans Times-Picayune: "Gov. Bobby Jindal defended the work of his wife's charity Thursday as he sidestepped questions about the unregulated donations flowing into the Supriya Jindal Foundation for Children from oil companies, technology firms and other interests that have business before the state." Gov. Jindal's relationship with his wife's foundation were the subject of a New York Times report we linked yesterday. ...

... Will Sentell of the Baton Rouge Advocate: "Gov. Bobby Jindal labeled as 'ridiculous' and 'silly' a newspaper story Thursday  that said there are links between Louisiana firms doing business with state government and also making contributions to a foundation overseen by his wife." ...

... Frank James of NPR: "The Times doesn't claim there's anything illegal about any of this. But the optics, as political consultants would say, sure aren't good. And the touchy tone taken by the governor's people isn't what a crisis manager would recommend either." According to the "governor's people," "... if you raise any questions about what many reasonable people would see as a potential if not clear conflict of interest, obviously the problem is with you, you partisan hack."

Steve Benen: Rep. Trent Franks (R-Az) is calling for President Obama &/or AG Holder to be impeached for refusing to continue to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court. "In a more sensible political environment, this would make Franks a laughingstock, and probably cost him his chairmanship of House Judiciary Committee's panel on the Constitution. In our political environment, it's just considered Thursday."

Local News

Robert Annis of the Indianapolis Star: "The state’s top election official will face seven felony counts, including voter fraud, perjury and theft, a special prosecutor said today. [Republican] Secretary of State Charlie White was accused of intentionally voting in the wrong precinct during the May 2010 primary, a potential felony." Ben Smith points out that White is "a political ally of governor Mitch Daniels."

News Ledes

Wisconsin State Journal: "Two local news organizations sued Gov. Scott Walker Friday for alleged failure to respond to their requests for e-mails that the governor claimed were overwhelmingly in favor of his controversial budget repair bill....'The governor said he had gotten more than 8,000 e-mails as of Feb. 17, with "the majority" urging him to "stay firm" on his budget repair bill,' Isthmus News Editor Bill Lueders said. 'We're just trying to see these largely supportive responses.'" Here's the Isthmus story. ...

... Walker Blinks. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Gov. Scott Walker notified unions Friday of impending layoffs if a budget-repair bill isn't passed in the next 15 days.... Walker warned Thursday that he would issue the notices on Friday that would affect up to 1,500 state employees. The actual notices, however, did not spell out how many people could be laid off, and a spokesman for the governor said the layoffs could be reduced by employee retirements." ...

... Wisconsin State Journal: "The state 'closed the Capitol impermissibly' when it began restricting public access to the building, a Dane County judge ruled Thursday, ordering the limits be lifted no later than 8 a.m. Monday.... Judge John Albert said the state may impose 'reasonable restraints' on the time, place and manner of future protests. He also ordered the state Department of Administration to remove protesters ... after 6 p.m. when it normally closes...." ...

... Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "With a final group hug and a rousing rendition of 'Solidarity Forever,' the last large group of demonstrators left the state Capitol Thursday night, hours after a judge ordered their removal."

McClatchy News: "A bloc of Senate conservatives, led by South Carolina's Jim DeMint, flexed their muscles Thursday, pledging to block any bill they alone deem wasteful or unconstitutional. Seven other GOP senators joined DeMint's effort, including three freshman he helped elect in November, and veteran Sen. John McCain of Arizona...."

AINA: "International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that in the past two days, thousands of Muslims have razed five churches and the homes of two evangelists in Asendabo, Ethiopia. Christian leaders are asking for protection after the Muslim attackers continued burning churches even after the federal police were sent to the town."

New York Times: Federal "prosecutors filed 49 federal charges Friday against Jared L. Loughner, the suspect in the Tucson shooting spree, accusing him of murdering and attempting to murder five federal officials but also of killing four constituents of Representative Gabrielle Giffords who were attending a public event she sponsored, and injuring 10 others waiting in line to talk to her."

New York Times: "The N.F.L. and the players union have agreed to extend negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement for seven more days."

New York Times: "Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s government struck hard at its opponents Friday, waging fierce battles to wrest control of the town of Zawiya from rebel troops and firing on peaceful protesters after Friday prayers in Tripoli, witnesses said. At least 13 people were reported dead in Zawiya, 25 miles west of Tripoli." ...

... New York Times: "In what has become something of a weekly appointment for displaying disaffection with unresponsive governments across the Arab world, thousands poured into the streets across the region after noon prayers on Friday. There were only scattered reports of violence outside of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s harsh crackdown on demonstrators in Libya."

Bloomberg: "U.S. employers added 192,000 workers in February, amid an improving economy and more seasonable weather, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to 8.9 percent, the lowest level since April 2009."

New York Times: Bradley Manning, who has been charged with leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, continues to be subjected to harsh or unusual treatment while in solitary confinement at Quantico Marine Base. ...

     ... Update: "Pfc. Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst accused of leaking government files to WikiLeaks, will be stripped of his clothing every night as a 'precautionary measure' to prevent him from injuring himself, an official at the Marine brig at Quantico, Va., said on Friday. Private Manning will also be required to stand outside his cell naked during a morning inspection, after which his clothing will be returned to him, said a Marine spokesman...."

Reuters: "China will beef up its military budget by 12.7 percent this year, the government said on Friday, a return to double-digit spending increases that will stir regional unease. The country's growing military clout has coincided with a more assertive diplomatic tone, evident in spats last year with Japan and Southeast Asia over disputed islands, and in rows with Washington over trade, the yuan currency and human rights."