Quote of the Day
The best scientist is open to experience and begins with romance--the idea that anything is possible. – Ray Bradbury
Sean Hannity Rips Into Former Palin Staffer
I've watched with some fascination Sean Hannity go after Frank Bailey in a multi-segment series this week. I wouldn't say I'm a regular viewer of FNC's Hannity; I've viewed him as a predictable, unoriginal, annoyingly repetitive, superficial, cloying interviewer (particularly with Sarah Palin), with better people skills than almost all media progressives and conservatives.
I knew Sean Hannity was in the tank for Sarah Palin; I've mentioned several times I've never heard him challenge her on even a single substantive point. Let me give just a trivial example: the ethics charges against her are characterized as a persecution against her. In fact, investigations of Troopergate and Sarah's PAC did NOT exonerate her. In one of the complaints, the allegation was made that Sarah was using official state transportation for the personal benefit of other family members; in fact, she reimbursed the state, not on her own, but in response to public disclosure. She used private vs. official email accounts to do state business (which is not what any legitimate reformer would do under sunshine principles). She wore winter attire promoting her husband's sponsors. She's got 101 transparent excuses for any and all of these things. Some were more superficial than others, and some people had an ax to grind against her.
The fact of the matter is that Sarah Palin was never a legitimate fiscal conservative (she tax-and-spent her way through years as governor with the state take from $140/barrel oil, and she got her fair share of federal earmarks as mayor and governor), she bought into climate change and pushed subsidy-heavy alternative fuels, and she suggested she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere (when, in fact, support for the bridge was part of her gubernatorial platform in 2006). I've gone into more depth on this and other matters in past posts, but Sean Hannity has never raised a substantive question on any of these.
I did not expect former Palin chief staffer Frank Bailey's Blind Allegiance, a critical tell-all, to meet Hannity's approval. (Note: I had earlier discussed some minor leaks of book contents in a February post.) I have not read the book, but at one point Hannity implied that Bailey had published criticisms of him as well. Bailey reveals that Palin had already decided to resign by February 2009, a critical motivation being some lucrative opportunities in the private sector, that Palin had coordinated with the independent RGA spot (which violated campaign laws--but there was a one-year statute of limitations), he had broken with Palin over reneging on a commitment to a pro-life group, Palin was paranoid that she was being bugged and vindictive, and he would never vote for Palin as President.
I think what bothers me here is that Sean seemed to be going out of his way to trash the book through a series of ad hominem attacks on Bailey--his disloyalty to Palin, the book as little more than sour grapes, an attempt to profit off his relationship to Palin, and a disgraceful gossip-filled book violating the Palins' privacy. He also repeatedly suggests, without explanation, that Bailey is being investigated by the state attorney general. (The real story here is there are some state ethics laws about publishing materials (e.g., emails to and from Governor Palin) not yet released by the state for a profit. Bailey's attorney claims that they scrupulously followed state requirements. Let me think here: I guess Frank Bailey learned his ethics from working with Palin, his political mentor.) Hannity seemed particularly troubled by some unfavorable disclosures about the Palin children, implying the kids were getting in trouble and suffering from parental neglect.
My impression here is that Bailey during the interviews acknowledges several criticisms against him are fair and he readily admits that his own family was neglected while he worked under Palin. I don't really sense he's doing it for the money; he comes across as someone who knows Sarah Palin better than anybody having worked closely with her, a true believer whom eventually broke from his mentor, disillusioned with how she frittered away remarkable, unprecedented opportunities.
Sean Hannity had a prime opportunity to get from Frank Bailey a more complete, realistic picture of someone whom is still being talked about as a potential Presidential candidate. We learn very little of Sarah Palin we didn't already know; instead, we learn more about Hannity's pettiness and lack of professionalism.
Guest Editorial: Dick Morris, "Stop GOP Medicare Suicide": Thumbs UP!
I wrote a long commentary in yesterday's post on a Herman Cain Q & A on Fox & Friends yesterday. I briefly touched on a central point that Morris is making here:
Now personally, I think the Republicans, including Herman Cain, are playing incredibly stupid politics. Doubling down on the Ryan plan AFTER we just lost an election in a safe Republican district due to the Ryan reform in specifics and AFTER 5 GOP senators opposed the plan?
Now, I have some nuanced differences with Morris' discussion. First, it is not true that entitlements aren't adding to the deficit. We just got a trustees report that said that Medicare trust will be exhausted in 2024 (-5 years) and social security in 2036 (-1 year). This clearly reflects an entitlement cash flow deficit (e.g., because of high unemployment, the loss of relevant payroll tax collection and/or early retirement). On the other hand, I think Morris' main point (i.e., the bulk of the deficit is due to other spending) is well-taken.
Second, Morris doesn't quite make this point, but I will: the Republicans have not learned from the Democrats' problem with ObamaCare. Certain costs are front-loaded with the lion's share of benefits starting a few years from now. The Democrats want vested beneficiaries as soon as possible because once you have a constituency hooked on the Democratic program equivalent of hard drugs, booze, or other addiction, it's almost politically impossible to undo. The problem with entitlement reform is that it is long-term. Small changes now will have long-term larger-scale cost savings.
Third, I think the issue is more sharply defined as resistance to change, and I would point out Bush's failure to reform social security, even with control of both chambers of Congress. Entitlement reform without a buy-in from Democrats is a non-starter. I think Ryan made a key mistake: he walked away from the bipartisan deficit reduction committee, which had majority support, including entitlement reforms, and nearly unanimous support from the Senators. Obama refused to back his own commission; as a game of political chess, Obama would have it politically impossible to veto reforms stemming from his own commission. The issue is that the Medicare reform Ryan was proposing was dead on arrival given Dem control of the Senate and the White House. And whereas it was useful to get Dem votes on the record for politically unpopular ObamaCare, the Dems feel they have blunted the political damage from dipping into Medicare to pay off ObamaCare by pointing out they kept Medicare from the major changes and getting Senate Republicans on the record. (From a tactical perspective, Republicans need to point out next year ObamaCare is already costing the American taxpayer and the types of cost savings Dems are counting on from Medicare have never been realized in other contexts. Moreover, since the Dems won control of the Congress and/or White House in 2006, by any objective standard, the fiscal soundness of both entitlement programs has badly deteriorated.)
Finally, I think Dick Morris' suggested targets are politically risky as well. For instance, program increases in unemployment compensation (which I don't think he mentions), food stamps, Medicaid, etc. are an artifact of a weak economy. If and when we see sustained new hiring (recent gains reflect more of a slowdown in layoffs than an increase in new hires among 14 to 15 million unemployed), we should see program spending lessen. More importantly, Morris is ignoring that domestic expenditures reflect a minority percentage of the federal budget. I don't hear more broad-based budget cuts, including process objectives (e.g., layoffs, project deferrals, etc.), some reductions in benefits and/or eligibility criteria for programs.
California Protests--Against the Legislative Minority GOP
I've been embedding more libertarian videos--they are like delicious chocolates left beside your pillow by the hotel maid. I loved the startled look on these progressives' faces when the libertarian interviewer suggests perhaps users of public schools (parents) should kick in more (versus class warfare as usual.)
Political Humor
"CBS announced some new shows coming up, including “Celebrity Housekeeper.” A group of women compete to become Arnold Schwarzenegger’s maid." - David Letterman
[Schwarzenegger is looking to do a sequel of "Maid in Manhattan", a 2002 movie featuring Jennifer Lopez as the single mother of a young son. When asked why do the sequel "Maid in Pacific Palisades", Arnold pointed out that People Magazine named Jennifer Lopez "the world's most beautiful woman"; he's had a job vacancy since the start of the year and thinks Jennifer would be good at any number of positions.]
An original:
- When a new American Idol was crowned last Wednesday, a number of other candidates failed to make the cut. Among those that parents have rejected as suitable role models for their own children: former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Presidential candidate John Edwards, actress Lindsay Lohan, and former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Fukushima Nuclear Incident Update. I have maintained a daily update for several weeks following the tsunami and nuclear power crisis, triggered by loss of power. In part, I was motivated by a lifelong interest in science, a scaremongering, incompetent media and anti-nuke scientists with an agenda to provide a more readable, objective summary for laymen. I don't know whether any blog readers even bother reading this segment. However, the situation has been stabilizing for some time, there have been days with no posts on the reference blogs I follow, and I've noted blogs like the Hiroshima Syndrome and NEI blogs have cut down the frequency of their posts. I actually started to do the same Wednesday (there was no segment yesterday), although I hadn't published it. If and when there are notable changes from the status quo, I'll depart from a periodic to more frequent schedule. At present, I'll publish this segment on a Monday/Wednesday/Friday basis, which will include any relevant blog updates.
Hiroshima Syndrome blog notes:
- Friday update: In an earlier update, I noted a report that the prime minister had wanted a (counterproductive) stoppage of seawater injections to RPV's early in the crisis because of misguided concerns over the less optimal use of seawater versus (unavailable) fresh water. It seems that they paid lip service to the PM's concerns but in fact continued the coolant injections. There is also speculation that piping damage could have been the result of the earthquake, although the blogger suggests it's more likely the result of minor cracks reflecting thermal shock (e.g., reintroduction of water). On the dewatering front (i.e., basements, trenches, etc.), progress has been momentarily halted because of suspicion of leaks in water storage tanks. Effects to decontaminate and recycle waters may start on an experimental basis over the next 2 weeks.
- The blogger notes a number of policy concessions because of the anti-nuke/Fukushima protests; both Japan and Switzerland announced using renewable energy (principally solar) to display some or all nuclear-generated power. There is some discussion of killing remaining cattle within the Fukushima evacuation zone, and anti-nuke Greenpeace is making a fear-mongering apples-and-oranges measurement/assessment of radiation in fish from Fukushima prefecture areas banned from commercial fishing.
NEI blog notes:
- Friday update: The same anti-scattering resin used to control airborne radiation outside of the reactor buildings is now in the process of being applied to the roofs and walls of the reactor buildings, starting with reactor 1.
Killebrew Public Memorial: Target Field, Minneapolis, Thursday, May 26
An estimated 4000 fans attended a public memorial for Hall of Fame slugger Harmon Killebrew last night. A video summary "Harmon Killebrew Remembered", including brief segments with Bud Selig (the Commissioner of Baseball), current and former Twins players and teammates, and Killebrew's widow Nita, is viewable here.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Chicago, "Harry Truman". Isn't revisionism grand? A failed businessman (his haberdashery went under), no college degree, a second-term senator whom replaced a liberal Vice President for political reasons, largely ignored by FDR during the remaining months of his Presidency, whose chief claims to fame were the decisions to drop the first and only nuclear bombs in the history of war and the Korean quagmire. He also has the distinction of having attained the lowest Presidential rating in recent American history (Truman 23%, Nixon 24%, Carter 28%, and George W. Bush 29%). Little wonder how a liberal songwriter like Robert Lamm was inspired by Truman-mania after the former President's death in the mid-70's...
