Department of Unneccessary Clarifications

It turns out that Mitt Romney is a Twilight fan. In sharing this news, Romney offered some clarification:

I mean, I like the Twilight series. I thought it was fun. I don’t like vampires personally, I don’t know any, but you know my granddaughter was reading it and I thought, ‘Well this looks like fun,’ so I read that.

Thanks for reassuring us all that you neither like vampires nor count any in your circle of friends. This is a bold stance and could cost him the coveted walking dead vote (they always turn out in Chicago) but principles are principles.

I'm bummed, though, that the reporter didn't follow up for the scoop of whether Mitt likes Edward or Jacob. Hopefully, that will come out in the debates.

Mr. Squeaky Clean?

The Washington Monthly (pretty much my only source for news) points to an article on the lack of scandals from the Obama White House. One of the odd things about it is the fact that a White House going two and a half years without a scandal is newsworthy. I guess that since 1977, there's been some sort of White House scandal every 34 months on average.

Given the crazy 24/7 news cycle we have and the hordes of conservative reports/commentators who would just love to drum up something about Barack, it's kind of remarkable. This is politics we're talking about. I believe firmly that Barack is a pretty clean pol but even he has rubbed elbows with the likes of Tony Rezko.

Anyhow, this is great information, especially given that the Repugs often refer to the Obama White House as the most corrupt ever.

So, my nonprofit mgmt certificate (if I ever finish it) isn't going to guarantee me a six-digit salary!?

Amen. Science of the Duh, but sometimes it is nice to see what we all knew supported by data.

http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12591:study-shows-nonprofit-jobs-a-low-paying-career-choice&catid=155:nonprofit-newswire&Itemid=986

Barry O'Bama is Heading Home

On Monday, Irish-American President Barry O'Bama of County Offaly will head home.

A musician, who almost certainly is related to Bridget and an inspiration to Dave, wrote a fetching song--a reel, actually, about the fine Irish lad.

Today's Latest on the GOP Field

As if we needed more proof of our brilliant politically analytical minds, the blogosphere is basically having the conversation we've been having for the past couple days. To that end, the Washington Monthly has a good post today about how Repug insiders are freaking out about the current field. For lack of better options, they are apparently lining up for Mitch Daniels but hoping that he will be "an adrenaline boost." I wonder how those conversations are going: "Once they hear him talk about his days as OMB Director, they crowds will go wild!"

Anyhow, I guess they're also trying very hard behind the scenes to get Chris Christie and/or Rick Perry into the race. But, both of those guys have said they're not running. One of them could emerge as the Clinton-style dark horse, though. They're not perfect candidates but they are certainly more interesting than most of the other candidates.

As a final note, the Washington Monthly points out that this concern among the GOP establishment could have serious cascading effects on the whole race. If those folks aren't engaged, there won't be as much money flowing into GOP coffers. That would be cool.

Pew on the value of a college education

http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_report_detail.aspx?id=85899359836

Has this topic always been covered so much, or is this really an upsurge!?

More on the GOP Field

There are a couple fun new updates on the GOP presidential field. First, the nastiness seems to have ramped up a bit as The Daily Caller, a conservative online rag run by well-known douche bag Tucker Carlson, ran a hit piece on Michelle Bachmann. The Washington Monthly flagged it and highlighted how interesting it is that the Daily Caller ran the piece at all. They surmise that it comes from some oppo research by one of the rival campaigns with the implication that the Daily Caller, and maybe the conservative establishment, wants Bachmann out of the race toot sweet.

The Washington Monthly also has an interesting summary of Newt Gingrich's extreme ping-ponging on the Ryan budget plan. Newt kind of seems like a squirrel caught in the middle of the road trying to figure out the best way to scurry away from an on-coming car. Speaking of Newt, Mother Jones re-released an article they wrote on him in 1984. Even without the last 27 years of skullduggery, Newt sure has a lot of baggage. He really doesn't seem like a viable candidate but since his ego is Trumpesque, he probably doesn't know that.

Finally, Nate has a very long and detailed piece on the impact of Huckabee's departure from the field. He doesn't really come out and say it but it seems to hint at things falling in place for Romney, i.e., the Repug John Kerry.

GOP Field Thinning Already

I'm sure you all noticed the monumental announcement that The Donald will not be running for president. I like to think that after a couple weeks of sputtering while trying to come up with some kind of comeback to Obama's thorough Correspondents' Dinner take-down Trump just hung his head and gave up the ghost. He did his best to try to maintain his ridiculous egoism ("I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election...however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.") but it came off pretty hollow.

This follows charming-but-dim, religiously bigoted, homophobic Mike Huckabee's decision to drop out of the race this weekend. I think he really dropped out because he's making too much money on Fox. It's a good thing because his other recently proposed endeavor, shilling arch-conservative "educational" propaganda, is patently ridiculous. I mean, seriously, Mike. This is my world you're trying to enter into. My publishing cronies and I will crush you in your first sales campaign!

Anyhow, the field is narrowing. I think that Palin will eventually bail, too, given that she would have to give up her fat Fox News paychecks. That still leaves a decent-sized crowd but only Bachmann and Hermain Cain will represent the truly lunatic fringe. Well, maybe Santorum, too. That's good but we were promised much more crazy.

Interesting Perspective on the Train Wreck That is Sarah Palin

The latest issue of the Atlantic has a really interesting article on Sarah Palin. In it the author cuts through the hype to look at her accomplishments during her brief tenure as Alaska governor. It's actually impressive. She worked against corrupt oil company interests and with Alaska Dems to ram through two initiatives, a gas pipeline and an increase in the oil company tax, that have undoubtedly helped out the state. He further argues that had she actually embraced her reformist past, she could have been a much different figure in American politics. But, beginning with her RNC speech she made a distinct shift into rabidly conservative attack politics (which baffled many in Alaska).

Don't get me wrong, he definitely looks at her limitations (mainly her penchant for personalizing politics and pursuing everything like it's a vendetta) but rather than tearing after her he sort of shakes his head in disbelief. Why did she decide to go all out ultra-conservative populist when her record was more good government reformer?

To me, it just highlights why she's such a scary, horrifying politician. She could be just blowing where the political wind takes her but I think the conservatism on display now is truer to her actual beliefs. Maybe she was a reformer in Alaska because she actually understood the issues at stake, which would make her apparent refusal to study national issues a little more troubling. Or, perhaps she looked at Barack and all he stood for and it set of some ultra-conservative sense of aggrievedness that set her on her ugly, populist course. Whatever her true motivations, I find her disturbing.

Just because

The photo that matters

Fascinating article. No time to comment further, but I know I was riveted by (to?) photo.

All Politics Is Local

So, Richie has about 10 more days in office. I'm ambivalent about him. He had some weird preternatural political sense of how to push Chicago forward in many meaningful ways (cultural and civic things, which is somewhat ironic for a "dems and do's sout-side guy). But he was also kind of a moron and corrupt and a caricature.

I'm also ambivalent about Tribune columnist John Kass, who is great when he writes about local stuff, but a partisan hack when he writes about national stuff (he points out every splinter in Obama's eye, but never noticed the giant logs in Bush's).

But this reflection on Richie is really great reading to be reminded how Chicago has worked forever, basically. And I'm not actually all that optimistic that much will change under Rahm. Let's hope.

White House Will Not Release OBL Photos

I hesitate to actually post this, not because of the subject matter, but because I kind of want the Michelle dancing video to always be front and center on this blog. But, you know I can't keep my mouth shut.

As you undoubtedly saw by now, the White House said it will not release their photos of a dead Osama bin Laden. While for a while I thought I really wanted them to be released, I am now glad that they won't be released. Ultimately, I was swayed by posts, like this one, arguing that the pictures would end up as the gruesome replacement to our celebrations as the lasting image of the strike.

That said, I think the pictures will eventually leak. Heck, they're apparently already circulating around the Senate so it's probably only a matter of time before some drunken staffer tries to impress his friends with them at the Hawk and Dove and momentum takes over.

Finally, you probably also saw that Mama Grizzly said that Obama is "pussy footing around" by not releasing the photos as part of what TPM calls her "Self-Marginalization Tour." That's just a preview of what we could expect of Palin, Bachman, and the Donald are ever in the same debate.

Who wants to be happy this morning?

More details on the "assault"

Jeezus, that must have been seriously intense: "They were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation."

I have a lot of issues with our armed forces, but I have a lot of respect for the guys (and women? ) who pulled this off on the ground.

The Audacity of Torture Proponents

There's obviously an 800-pound gorilla of an issue right now, Osama's death, that we haven't commented on. To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure how to address it. I'm happy he's dead and think the world is a better place without him, but the euphoric celebration that followed the announcement struck me as odd. I know that those celebrations Sunday night were actually mixtures of joy, relief, and remembrance, but the joy seemed to overwhelm everything. I don't know.

But, while my feelings about how to react to Osama's death are mixed, I know exactly how I feel about the current and former officials who are crowing that "enhanced interrogation" led to us catching him. It's not surprising that Cheney and co. would be saying this but every time this comes up I still find myself gaping in awe that people feel like it's okay to support torture. Thus, I highly recommend the Daily Kos summary of the facts behind this that show that standard interrogation led us to Osama while torture helped the warmongering Bushies to accumulate false intelligence they could use to support the Iraq War.