Every beast roars in its own den.
Bantu proverb
Political Soundbite of the Week
According to CBS News:
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tried out a new campaign slogan on Wednesday, saying that he's heard that President Obama has a "4-4-4" plan -- four years in office, $4 trillion more in debt, and 4 million jobs lost.Let's hope that the American people don't buy into Obama's "8-8-8" plan...
Did Obama Mishandle Abbottabad/UBL Mission?
The Daily Caller recently interviewed Chuck Pfarrer, author of Seal Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama Bin Laden. I have not read the book, but I find the basic themes described in the piece oddly compelling: he argues that the popularized story (which I believe I summarized in my blog at the time, i.e., of helicopters touching down and rescuers going up to the third floor and battling through resistance and then shooting an unarmed UBL) as little more than a game of Chinese whispers, based on inaccurate briefings of poor quality video feeds). He suggests that the troop helicopters landed on or hovered above the roof where troops penetrated the residence (rope ladders?), presumably via the few windows in the mansion. [Maybe I've seen enough TV crime drama shows and movies that this actually makes sense to me...] One helicopter hovered over the residence in the event targets attempted to flee from the mansion from any relevant exit points. Pfarrer claims his information is based on first-hand information from soldiers participating in the raid; he also contradicts the account of how UBL died, that UBL died within the first 90 seconds of the raid and he had gone for an AKSU rifle he kept in front of his bed. He claims after the first inaccurate accounts leaked out, rather than correct them, the White House clamped down on a need to know basis. Why lie about the details of UBL's death? My guess is that the White House did not want to lend support to the claim that UBL died as a "martyr", even if existing rumors threw the reputation of professional soldiers under the bus by suggesting that they shot a defenseless man.
Pffarer also claims that in Obama's haste to claim political credit for getting UBL, Obama rendered much of the Al Qaeda information they had recovered (on computers, etc.) but had not had time to process, unusable (because of the limited shelf life of intelligence: no doubt after confirming UBL's demise, Al Qaeda operatives would have hidden their tracks, changed locations, methods and points of contact and miscellaneous other tactics).
Pffarer anticipates that the White House will argue that there are errors: in fact, Pffarer claims that he intentionally changed minor details (e.g., locations and names) to protect American interests. I'm very troubled over what I find a highly plausible account from Pffarer; in particular, if Obama essentially frittered away valuable information which could have dealt Al Qaeda a fatal blow in order to politically exploit the death of the war criminal, it would be unconscionable.
Cain's Snowballing Scandal and Media Conservative State of Denial
I have a certain amount of respect for Karl Rove's astute political analysis (which is different from past campaign tactics), but I have to say that his suggestion that the NRA (National Restaurant Association) issue a redacted account of its findings on the two reported incidents last week is bad advice. With all due respect from Rove, what do you expect is going to happen under most incidents of "he said, she said"? I don't know what good comes from reviewing the assessment, short of some audio-visual evidence of an incident.
I remember when I was explicitly threatened as a visiting professor at Illinois State by the department chairman; he was worried about my potentially filing a grievance over an incident in the fall semester which, in my judgment, violated professional ethics. My visiting position was going away with recession-based budget cuts, and so early in the spring semester I was busy with teaching, finishing up some academic articles and looking for a follow-up faculty appointment elsewhere. I wasn't happy about what happened, and in fact I never discussed the incident with anybody at the university, never mind filing a complaint or grievance. For the first time I can remember, the department chair unexpectedly came to my office one day and directly told me if I filed a complaint, he would exercise his authority as department chair to relieve me of my teaching responsibilities. I never saw this coming; I certainly didn't have a tape recorder running at the time to prove he just threatened me. Long story short, I went straight to the university administration, which told the chair that whereas they weren't telling him how to run his department, they would review the evidence behind any relevant decision. The chairman vehemently objected, arguing it was undue interference in his internal affairs. Now why would he have reacted in this way if there was no basis for my allegation? The point is, I ended up doing exactly what the chairman didn't want to happen; the faculty subcommittee confirmed my account of the original incident. I also added to my complaint the chairman's threat in the spring. The committee said that the department chair denied ever making the threat (now that's predictable...), and effectively it was a case of "he said, he said" and I had not proved it to their satisfaction. (With what? An illegal tape recording made without his consent, assuming I had telepathic powers and knew that he was about to visit my office and threaten me?) But there's strong circumstantial evidence--the timing of my visit to the university administration and the nature of the chairman's response to them.
What bothers me about the Cain situation is most men and women in the business world do not get charged with sexual harassment, never mind a cluster of allegations. Now you can argue that perhaps even a simple unsolicited compliment about a woman's appearance could be taken the wrong way ("That's a lovely dress you're wearing, Mrs. Cleaver.") One of the reasons I put up my example above was to provide context for a current Politico report about one of the original complainants, at the time 30 years old working for the government affairs department at NRA, complained with a board member within hours of an unwanted sexual advance by Mr. Cain. She almost immediately left the NRA; maybe the allegation is valid, but the victim decided life is too short to work for someone you don't respect or to spend months in depositions and court appearances; in essence, the company gave her a year to find a fresh start somewhere else.
I just watched tonight's Hannity on Fox News, and he is sorely testing my patience. Last week he was slamming anonymous complainants; then today Sharon Bialek, a REGISTERED REPUBLICAN, came forth with the allegation of a "casting couch" story about Cain (Cain offered to talk to her about NRA openings; she had booked a simple room--which Cain had upgraded to a suite and then allegedly attempted to reach under her skirt and push her head to his crotch. Cain allegedly suggested a quid pro quo for findng her a job at NRA.) Apparently there are two witnesses whom confirmed under oath she had complained about the incident at the time, including her then boyfriend.
Hannity made two comments that immediately set me off: now he makes the point she is coming forward 14 years after the fact and wasn't even an NRA employee. First of all, Herman Cain was not a political candidate in 1997; unfortunately, there are all too many unfaithful husbands whom make sexual advances to other women. And second, Hannity is either ignorant of this fact or he's trying to finesse a technicality about the NRA employee status. The fact of the matter is that she was a FORMER NRA employee whom had been laid off, and so the discussion was more about getting her old job back or some other opportunity at NRA.
As to Gloria Allred (Bialek's attorney), whom, of course, is repeatedly referred to as a Democrat by the Fox News contributors, I'm sure if anyone should be angry at Ms. Allred, it's Barack Obama. Barack Obama couldn't ask for a better candidate to run against but who appears to fit an emerging picture of a womanizer whom earlier this year didn't know about the Palestinian right to return issue, doesn't know the President of Uz-beka-beka-beka-stan is or that China has nuclear weapons running against Obama's squeaky clean, all-American family. Cain has become the 2011 version of Sarah Palin...
Some of this is just very nasty, and there were lots of Fox News contributors basically attacking Bialek. But there are other stories surfacing: newsmax is reporting about a 2002 USAID speech where Cain was a speaker and wanted a female acquaintance to fix him up with an Egyptian businesswoman for dinner; when the female acquaintance declined, Cain asked the female acquaintance to have dinner with him (she only agreed after arranging to be accompanied by other guests).
Not all conservatives have Hannity's point of view; I have been a consistent critic of Cain, but let's hear from Steve Deace, an Iowa media conservative, whom earlier indicated Cain had made awkward comments to a couple of female staffers on a recent visit, released this comment, which I repeat in its entirety because I completely agree with it word for word and could have written the same thing myself:
"No one affiliated with our radio program has anything else to say about Herman Cain’s awkward and inappropriate comments made to our staff referenced in a recent Politico story beyond what we have already said. Sadly, those comments are no more inappropriate and awkward than Mr. Cain’s multiple positions on the sanctity of human life, his support of the TARP, his not knowing China already has nuclear weapons, and his refusal to defend marriage. The fact that someone so uninformed and morally inconsistent has made it this far in a crucial Republican presidential primary, only to finally be vetted by his personal life, is an example of why so many Americans have lost faith in the system. Instead of debating issues we debate cults of personality. This sort of personality-driven politics helped Obama get elected four years ago, and look how well that turned out." - Steve DeacePolitical Humor
"President Obama joined other world leaders in trying to convince Greece to cut back in spending and reduce their debt. This is part of their 'do as we say not as we do' summit, apparently." - Jay Leno
[Because at the rate Obama is spending, he doesn't need any international competition to US Treasury auctions...]
"A man called the police this week after a snake crawled out of the ATM he was using. The snake was immediately captured, and returned to its position as the bank’s CEO." - Jimmy Fallon
[I'm still waiting for the sequel to "Snakes On a Plane": "Snakes in the White House".]
snake : "a treacherous person; an insidious enemy. Compare snake in the grass."
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Foreigner, "Urgent"
