By Jeff Smith, on Fri Jun 8, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET  The MSM isn’t biased in favor of Romney. The MSM isn’t biased in favor of Obama.
It is biased – like everyone else trying to survive and thrive – in favor of page views.
And I can pretty much guarantee that Mitt’s shearing of the gay classmate gets a hell of a lot more of them than the rollout of his Middle East policy.
Now that technology has enabled the media to get this down to a science and shift the placement of pieces online from minute-to-minute, the media, more than ever – to paraphrase Republican ingenue Christine O’Donnell – “is you.”
(Cross-posted, with permission of the author, from Politico’s Arena)
By Artur Davis, on Fri Jun 8, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET  It’s worth reading EJ Dionne’s latest piece about the essence of modern conservatism, not so much for the originality of its analysis—its argument that conservatism has morphed into a mean-spirited, anti-communal, exercise in selfishness is a standard liberal trope at this point—but because it revives a valuable debate I’ve written about before: is the Republican Party really in the midst of a hard-right revolution and has the right all but given up on community?
To be sure, there’s a lot to assail about Dionne’s history lessons. Trying to re-imagine Civil War pensions, or the creation of national hospitals to treat sailors under John Adams, as relevant entries in a debate over modern ideology is about as illuminating as linking pro-slavery antebellum Democrats to the modern Democratic Party’s stance on abortion, or dwelling on the Ku Klux Klan’s twenties era power base in the Democratic Party. In other words, minor rhetorical noise, but not much light. Similarly, describing McCarthyism, Vietnam, the civil rights fires, Watergate, and the generation gap as minor pauses in a robust past consensus is the slight-of -hand of a DC pundit framing another lament about the allegedly woeful times we live in now (times that don’t feature inner-city riots, assassinations, 56,000 deaths in a foreign war, or the wiretapping of political enemies).
 I won’t challenge Dionne’s premise that modern conservatism is mainly a campaign for “low taxes, fewer regulations, [and] less government.” It is distinguishable from earlier phases when conservatives spent much energy on co-opting liberals, i.e, George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism”, Gerald Ford’s off and on economic stimulus proposals; Richard Nixon’s forays into affirmative action and environmental protection. And to be sure, the cable news organ of the contemporary right sometimes blends an unattractive fearfulness about the future with a bravado-laced denigration of the left (that is of course, matched by the left’s unadorned contempt in return).
Read the rest of…
Artur Davis: Republicans and Community, Redux
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Jun 7, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET  Today….was a day. Where nothing happened in my life.
I didn’t work.
I didn’t rest.
I didn’t play.
I worried a little and wasted a lot of time.
I’m not even sad the day is almost over.
I don’t feel guilty.
I just feel …..well, really I don’t feel anything about today.
It was a nondescript inconsequential day.
Today was to the days of my life what James Polk was to the presidency of the United States. A president no one really remembers or ever talks about. He was probably competent enough but mostly just inconsequential in the public memory. Much like today was for me.
A James K Polk day.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jun 6, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET What is the sound of one hand clapping? Or one person drinking coffee?
This morning I was set to have coffee with a friend at 8am but he was running behind.
Finally, at 8:15 I emailed him and told him I was going to go ahead and start the conversation without him and when he arrived he could jump in and pick up wherever we were at that time.
Fortunately, he showed up about 3 minutes later.
The conversation was off to a sluggish start by myself and seemed to jump from irrelevant topic to irrelevant topic.
Fortunately, we ended up having a great conversation.
Which just shows a conversation with 2 is much better than a conversation alone.
By Jeff Smith, on Wed Jun 6, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET Michael Jordan was one of the first people in pro sports to realize that politics and sports don’t mix.
When asked to endorse black Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt in an epic 1990 Senate race against longtime civil rights opponent Jesse Helms – a nod that could’ve had a profound impact in Jordan’s home state – MJ famously declined. “Republicans buy shoes, too,” he is reported to have said.
As a Gantt supporter I was very disappointed in Jordan’s refusal to get involved, but it was probably smart business. And I suspect that the Mets may be about to learn as much.
(Cross-posted, with permission of the author, from Politico’s Arena)
By Artur Davis, on Wed Jun 6, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET The outcomes in specific US House races rarely matter outside their own borders: the fact that 63 Republicans took over Democratic seats in 2010 is known exponentially more than any single one of the 63 contests. Indeed, the most consequential House-level results in the last several decades have arguably been the defeats that redounded to the benefit of three future presidents: imagine the ways George W. Bush and Bill Clinton might have been diminished had they won their House races, and spent the eighties in congressional firefights and intra-party battles to ascend to the Senate; think of Barack Obama beating Bobby Rush and trying to overcome the marginalizing bounds of holding an African American district.
I’ll venture a guess that Utah’s newly created 4th District is about to break the pattern of irrelevance, at least if a thirty-something African American woman, who happens to be a conservative Mormon Republican, wins a battle that is well within her reach (a dead heat against a Democratic congressman in a Republican leaning seat). Mia Love’s potential breakthrough in one of the whitest districts in America would be a message in a bottle from the future—the kind of promise that is attracting outsized attention and dollars from around the country.
 Mia Love It’s important to note what Love is not: unlike Barack Obama, she is not the beneficiary of a liberal party self-consciously aware of the chance to write history, and there was no racial base ready to rally around her, or to punish the party if she had been rejected in her primary. She is no caricature who bends so far to the right that it seems like a disingenuous pose: there is a distinct absence of fire and brimstone, and her embrace of Republican agenda items like the Ryan Plan is couched in process-minded tones, with no overheated claims that socialism is around the corner. Notably, her own mantra on the stump is that she asks about the sustainability and affordability of programs first—a conservative stance but a contrast with, say, Grover Norquist’s flamboyant description of shrinking government to a size that makes it fit to be drowned in a bathtub.
Read the rest of…
Artur Davis: Mia Love and the Future
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jun 5, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET Can’t win them all.
Last physical blood tests were “good” but with a few “slight irregularities.”
While waiting for explanation my mind raced. It was “slightly elevated cholesterol and glucose. That’s all.”
Me:”Ok . Good.”
And I added “I figured the “slight irregularity” may have been traces of Tiger Blood.”
Nurse:”Ha! No traces of Tiger Blood. Did you eat anything sweet just before the test?”
Me:”Yes. An ice cream cone.”
Nurse:”That explains glucose. If I ever worry that I need to test for Tiger Blood I’ll let you know.”
Me:”I read once that tigers like ice cream.”
Nurse: “Uh-huh. You can go now.”
Personally, I don’t even think she tested for Tiger Blood.
By Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, on Tue Jun 5, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET  The following speech was addressed on May 9, 2012 to the Denver Forum by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
It’s great to be with you and I am delighted my good friend George Mitrovich asked me to speak to The Forum today.
I came to Denver to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Migrant Workers Health Act at the Community Health Center Convention. Celebrations are a wonderful time to look at what our country valued a half century ago – and to compare it to the values of our own time.
In the anti-immigrant fervor, it is hard to imagine, that a nation would decide to protect the health of migrant workers. And yet they did.
So today, at The Forum, I would like to talk with you about what is going on in our country, to suggest we need to renew our faith in one another.
A nation works best when all of its people feel that they have a role, when all can fully participate, when each is inspired by an ideal greater than one’s own desires; for everyone needs to be part of a compelling mission. The Framers of our country believed that, President Kennedy believe that, as did my father and Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Obama.
 America was founded as a “mission into the wilderness.” And in that wilderness, we have explored new frontiers – in science, business and politics. We accomplished the most when we had a sense that we were connected to one another. Sometimes that happens because in fact we are. Americans feel World War II was the good war – in large part because all participated – fought, worked in factories, accepted wage and price controls. Sometimes we feel connected because we feel enlarged by the mission of a few – putting a man on the moon. Or connected to the courage of a small but determined group – the Civil Rights Movement in the early sixties and protesting the war in Vietnam.
Read the rest of…
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend: The Spirit of America: Promise & Reality
By RP Staff, on Mon Jun 4, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET The Washington Post covered the recent announcement by contributing RP Artur Davis that he was defecting to the Republican party:
 Republicans on Wednesday were celebrating the defection to the GOP this week of a former Democratic congressman and close ally of President Obama, saying that it underscored their argument that the president has led the country on a march to the left.
Former Alabama congressman Artur Davis, once a rising star in the Democratic Party and the man who helped put Obama’s name in nomination for the presidency in 2008, announced his intention to switch parties and said that he will vote for Mitt Romney in November.
Click here to read the full article.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Jun 4, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET Subtle car snobbery.
It’s not what the car represents as much as what it doesn’t represent about the driver.
I drive a Honda Accord and am excited because in the next few days I’m getting a new car. Another Honda Accord (only slightly pre-owned). My car purchasing is like my restaurant purchasing. I look over the entire menu each time and order exactly the same thing.
But with the Honda Accord …I’ feel kinda proud. I think it’s a perfect combination of efficiency and practically and elegance. A good fit for me…and so while I was driving earlier today I glanced around to see if there were any cars around me I could feel a little superior to.
To my left was a Ford Fusion and I locked eyes with the driver–just briefly. But long enough for his look to say to me, “Honda Accord? Nice. But I’m a little bit better in my Ford Fusion.”
And he got my message back, “Ford Fusion? Not bad. But I prefer the Honda Accord and think it’s just a little bit better.”
It was a mutually respectful exchange that we both could live with. I didn’t mind letting him think he’s a little better and he didn’t mind granting me the same privilege.
But then to our right barreled forward a large shiny black Mercedes-Benz. I didn’t look at my friend in the Ford Fusion. I didn’t have to. I knew what he thinking. We both were embarrassed for the guy in a Mercedes who felt so insecure he needed something that extravagant just to be noticed and to feel like he fit in.
And we both–my Ford Fusion colleague and I— felt just little superior to the guy in the Mercedes. Not because of the statement our cars made. But because of the statement they didn’t make.
I let the Mercedes pull in front of me and speed away. But kept thinking to myself, “Poor guy. He doesn’t need a Honda Accord or Ford Fusion. He needs a hug.”
|
|
