Jailhouse Rock.

by Capt. Fogg

"Well, victims have rights too," is the usual evasion given to the question of why the United States has more people in confinement or under correctional supervision than the Soviet Union under Stalin. Well, of course they do have rights, but it's hard to reach the notion that a victim of a crime, or the state which represents that victim has the right to do anything at all to satisfy the rage we feel when someone harms us or our property from that position. Even the harshest laws of classical antiquity were set in place to hinder the endless cycle of revenge.

Harder it is indeed to get to the level of punishment typical in our land for crimes that in fact harm no one at all: "crimes" that throughout the years include marrying outside the arbitrary dictates of dominant religions, drinking from the wrong faucet, having a beer in private or smoking the herb that makes you feel mellow and sleepy. Most hard to justify is the rage for "Zero Tolerance" that makes judges into clerks and executioners unable to apply reason or a sense of proportion as it relates to crime and punishment.

Imagine, as Adam Gopnik suggests in Mass Incarceration and Criminal Justice in the January 30th issue of New Yorker, "Lock yourself in your bathroom and then imagine you have to stay there for the next ten years, and you will have some sense of the experience." At least 50,000 men don't have to imagine it at the moment, they simply have to be conscious.

Although it's tapered off some recently, we've been given editorials and articles and TV harangues about how prison life is too "soft" for "Criminals" such as some teen who sent a naked picture on a cellphone to another teen and gets life in a cage -- or another unfortunate caught with marijuana who has to endure 10 or 20 degrading and terrifying years and lose his civil rights in perpetuity, but Prison life in the US is a veritable nightmare in comparison to what it is in places like Europe. 70,000 prisoners are raped in our prisons every year where HIV is widespread. Texas alone has sentenced more than 400 teenagers to life imprisonment.

My own state of Florida, with a governor who somehow escaped incarceration for having been involved in the largest Medicare swindle ever, is as I write this, trying to "privatize" Florida's prison system. Is that another way of washing conservative hands of blood or is it simply that to the conservative mind, being profitable makes it moral: a corporation locking up people and keeping the corporate bottom line healthy by squeezing convicts as well as punishing them?

Of course Florida, as many other states have done, turned to prison labor as a substitute for slavery after Liberals ended their horrific atrocities, locking up "vagrants" and selling their "slave" labor for private gain in much the same way as China is accused of when we try to seem better than they are.

" More than half of all black men without a high-school diploma go to prison at some time in their lives"

says Gopnik and mass imprisonment has tainted our mass culture with affluent kids in shopping malls imitating prison dress and speech and tattoos. We wear our incarceration culture on the bodies of our children, like the mark of Cain.

"Mass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our country today—perhaps the fundamental fact, as slavery was the fundamental fact of 1850. In truth, there are more black men in the grip of the criminal-justice system—in prison, on probation, or on parole—than were in slavery then."

Nor is it tapering off. The rate of incarceration is accelerating; tripling in the last couple of decades and with the tendency toward private slaveholder corporations, the comparison to the anti-bellum south is all the more frightening. We'r e being sold a southern sense of justice, suggests the author, and we sell it, as we sell our wars and our attacks on what we were taught were fundamental rights and even our attacks on reformers with appeals to rage. "If the accused had shot someone in your family, wouldn't you want to kill him?" asks the voice and of course I might, but fortunately for all of us, we have a system of laws, we have a civilization to prevent it. Indeed civilization exists as a brake on our base instincts, which instincts so often destroy it.

Is our current fascination with a withered government that thereby facilitates freedom in some magical way really compatible with a government so concerned with keeping all freedom away from so many people for ever expanding reasons? Or is the subjugation of such a huge number of people only a part of a vast scheme to subjugate most of us, to establish America as a vast plantation for the benefit of a very few slaveholders?

Perhaps not. Perhaps it's simply the fear in which we're all marinating in this safest period in history that's pickled our sense of justice; our fear of terrorists, dope fiends, predators, drunk drivers and heretics, but regardless of where the blame is put, we are, and continue to grow as a nation which more than any others, keeps people in cages and allows other people to profit from it.

Let the chips fall where they may

I'm slow to add follows on the twitter but I did add a few big media tweeps in the last couple of weeks. Really enjoying AP's photojournalist Charles Dharapak. He's got a fine eye for framing and often captures iconic moments.

[original photo]

Not his most compelling capture but a couple of things struck me when I saw it. One, Willard looks less lifelike and more like a Disney animatron as the campaign goes on. Also, it reminded me how many photos I've seen of campaign jets over the years. They're invariably practically empty. Makes me wonder why they charter such large planes. Considering how much it costs to fly those puppies, seems to be incredibly wasteful, financially and ecologically.

On a related note, also recently started following David Firestone who is on the editorial board at NYT. He posted a Romney photo last week and though it does cry out for a caption contest, I found it too gross to post it here. Click if you dare.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Don't know what you got till it's gone

If they outlawed polls, what would the media talk about? Instead of doing the actual work on explaining the real world effects of policy, everybody commissions a poll and reports on the results. Easy work if you can get it. Which brings us to today's "important" news. An alleged majority of voters can't see the benefit of a payroll tax holiday.

Shocking, I know. At the top end of the break, you're looking at 20-30 bucks a week. Imagine the people who don't notice the difference probably get less. So sure, they don't "see" it. But if it disappears they'll most likely notice their paycheck decreased a few bucks.

Of course, that has nothing to do with whether it helps drive the economic recovery. And it no doubt does, by virtue of the fact it's a small amount of money spread among millions of workers. Nobody is going to bank it. They spend it. It helps over time. Not that you'll read that in this important report. But it probably generated a lot of traffic. And that's what really counts in the profit model media.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Brokered dreams

With every day that passes, I'm more afraid my crazy conspiracy theory will actually come true. Certainly, a brokered convention is very much on the minds of a lot of GOPers. Newt just came within an inch of predicting it outright.

“We have no evidence yet that Romney anywhere is coming close to getting a majority,” Mr. Gingrich said. “And I think when you take all of the non-Romney votes, it’s very likely that at the convention there will be a non-Romney majority – and maybe a very substantial one – and my job is to convert that into a pro-Gingrich majority.”

He vowed to mount “a straight-out contest for the next four or five months” and said he would go “all the way to the convention.”

Artur Davis is boldly predicting a brokered convention from his perch at The National Review.

Not one bit of it is implausible. Arguably, a deadlock is an entirely realistic outcome in a race where Romney’s institutional edges are considerable, but his vulnerabilities and Gingrich’s raw campaign skills are more than enough to offset that advantage. It is also all too likely that the result of a protracted bout would be two candidates so bruised that neither remains competitive with Obama. If so, there will be a sense of panic, and it is not hard to conceive that Romney could come under intense pressure to sacrifice himself to avert a November catastrophe.

And Jake tells me an extended primary is a feature of the RNC's plan.

Why would this go on for awhile? Because a combination of an elongated schedule, new Republican National Committee rules, and some quirks of fate have diminished the importance of individual contests and reduced the ability for knock-out punches.

Part of the reason for this schedule is then-RNC chair Michael Steele wanted an extended primary season so as to ensure a strong nominee...

All this taken in the context of the power of the super PACs to drive the narrative with their multi-million dollar ad blitz makes it look more likely every day. As I said weeks ago, the people funding these PACs all have a common goal -- to get rid of Obama. Nobody running now can unite the fractured base. An unexpected savior, delivered in August, could not only easily unite, but also excite them.

Say what you will, they almost got away with it with Sarah Palin. They learned from that. This time they'll pick someone who knows, and will play by, their rules.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

War of the super PACs

Thinking 2012 will go down in history as the election where the actual candidates were merely a footnote in the campaigns. It's increasingly obvious the real contest is between competing super PACs.

In the last few weeks, super PACs and other outside groups supporting Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and President Barack Obama launched activities in Florida, other key states, and nationally — including phone banking, field organizing, direct mail, polling, state-of-the-race memos and even surrogate operations — that were once left mostly to the campaigns and parties.

The ambitious expansion is another example of a shift in political power away from the major parties and their candidates to deep-pocketed outsiders. But it’s left campaign operatives and even candidates grumbling about whether the super PACs are actually helping their favored candidates.

Don't think the super PACs care what their "favored" candidate thinks. These front groups are driven by the agenda of their deep pocket funders whose main interest is in establishing a public narrative that advances it. I expect they will claim credit for getting their candidate elected and demand to be effectively paid back for their efforts with a seat at the policy making table. Suspect they choose their favored candidate strictly on the basis of how well they believe he or she will stay bought.

Also thinking it would be useful for someone with better access to the data than me to keep a running tally on how much they're spending in total. Hope somebody does it.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Don't faze me Brokaw

The Romney campaign put out a new ad featuring an old 1997 news clip from a broadcast done by Tom Brokaw about Newt's ethics violations. This made Tom unhappy. Brokaw wants Romney to take the ad down.

“I am extremely uncomfortable with the extended use of my personal image in this political ad,” he said. “I do not want my role as a journalist compromised for political gain by any campaign.”

Fat chance. The Romney camp refuses, claiming fair use. Moreover, they're delighted to get the extra attention. They're pimping the piece on Twitter.



My first thought when I watched it was: "Hey. Tom Brokaw aged pretty well, didn't he?"

My second thought: "Damn. I remember watching that report when it originally aired."

Recall thinking at the time the GOP did the right thing in purging that maniac. Sadly, this sort of housekeeping doesn't happen in the GOP anymore. Even sadder, at this point, Newt isn't even the biggest lunatic pulling the strings in the Republican party.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Hang 'em high

This Republican represents a district within about 30 miles of me. Here's what Rep. Larry Pittman considers appropriate justice.

“We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. Every appeal that can be made should have to be made at one time, not in a serial manner,” Pittman wrote in the email. “If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings, which would be more of a deterrent to others, as well.”

Surely nothing shouts civil society louder than a good old fashioned public hanging. Or good Christian for that matter. Pittman bills himself as a pastor, shipping worker and a company chaplain who seeks the Lord’s guidance to help him "be a good and effective servant of the people."

Pittman said the email wasn't meant to be public. But the thing is, it's not at all uncommon in this part of the south to hear "good Christians" promote such barbaric ideals. Which reminds me of a story I read recently in the local paper. A black 14-year-old girl was threatened by a group of white teen boys armed with a hangman’s noose.

“She said that they came up to her and they’d made this noose for her,” Parks said. “When she saw it, it caught her off guard. She tried to take it from them so she could tell her teachers. The boy said, ‘No – I’m taking this home so I can put it on my porch with a sign that says, Whites Only.’”

Authorities are trying to determine if this was "a hate crime of racial intimidation or was it bullying?" The boys said it was a joke and weren't suspended at the time. The school superintendent "thinks the encounter was bullying, but was not a hate crime." He "described the noose this way: 'It was white – a real thin rope about three feet long.'" Oh, well it was a "real thin" rope, so that's okay then.

These are my community leaders and neighbors. Any wonder why I've made so few local friends?

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Newt won't back down

Willard "Mittens" Romney is feeling all kinds of butch today. He's been out on the campaign trail boasting about his big victory in the debates last night. And to be fair, he did do better than he has recently. Guess all that instruction from Michele Bachmann's former debate coach is paying off. He lied with much more authority. Also expect the current polling in Florida is boosting his confidence.

Newt on the other hand looks a little shaken. After all his blustering about letting the people cheer, because freedom, Willard clearly bested him on the applause-o-meter last night. But never let it be said he won't go down fighting. Hell, he practically invented smear tactics for Pete's sake. Exhibit A, a new attack ad Newt launched on Romney today that pulls no punches.



Have to give his shop credit for a fast turn around. Expect they may have spent more time on the one I saw yesterday from his sugar daddy's SUPER PAC, which was even more brutal.



Don't count him out yet. He still has three days to turn it around. And oddly, as abhorrent as I find the man, I'm kind of rooting for Newt to pull off another upset. It would amuse me on several levels, not the least of which would be witnessing the establishment GOP meltdown.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Big Internet is watching you

This google ad preferences meme has been traveling the internets for a couple of days. If you haven't seen it, they target the popup ads you ignore according to some kind of algorithum that's gauged by the cookies they sleathily embed in your computer. People have been checking and sharing their results and they're hilariously inaccurate.

Google thinks I'm a 55-64 year old male who is interested in combat sports. Not even sure what that means but the only traditional sport I follow at all is baseball. And I'll also follow any link that has to do with aeronautics, including ballooning and skydiving but pretty sure those aren't considered combat. But to be fair, I've often been mistaken for a guy on the internets.

Apparently, google isn't the only one who tracks you this way. Lots of other websites collect your click info. I checked them all and only one was even close to capturing my true essence.

The good news is you can theoretically opt-out from these cookies on all the sites except google. Me, I don't bother opting out of anything. I've found over the years, the more you opt-out the more spam ends up in your in-box. If you ignore them, sometimes they go away on their own. Kind of the same way I deal with trolls.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Huntsman gets a new job

Ah America. Ain't it great. Where else can a kid pull himself up by the bootstraps from an ego-crushing loss in a political campaign and rise up a mere 10 days later to become chairman of an important charitable foundation?

Oh, did we mention said charitable foundation was founded by his billionaire father? I'm sure that had nothing to do with it. Certainly, in our society where only the lazy and unambitious are poor or unemployed, Jon was selected solely on his merits.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

CNN is live streaming so I'm watching GOP debate number Fifth Circle of Hell. Not sure how long I'll last. Definitely not going to live tweet. You want the snark go to the twitter or to that guy at the Guardian. He's good.

Addendum: Okay I lied. Going to liveblog this bit. Romney just announced he is having fun. I don't think he really is though.

Also too, this is the most amusing debate so far. Granted, it's a low bar.

[Original graphic Link includes brilliant theory on hell's thermic properties.]

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Romney fails in financial filings

Buddhists have a saying; money is suffering. Mitt Romney is about to live those words. The twitter tells me the Romney camp optimistically predicted earlier that Willard's tax returns would cease making news after tomorrow. I assume that was before Romney's inconsistent financial filings hit the news wires.

Some investments listed in Mitt and Ann Romney’s 2010 tax returns – including a now-closed Swiss bank account and other funds located overseas – were not explicitly disclosed in the personal financial statement the GOP presidential hopeful filed in August as part of his White House bid. [...]

A review by the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau found that at least 23 funds and partnerships listed in the couple’s 2010 tax returns did not show up or were not listed in the same fashion on Romney’s most recent financial disclosure, including 11 based in low-tax foreign countries such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.

The Romney campaign described the discrepancies as “trivial.” Of course they are. What's a few foreign tax shelters, more or less, among friends?

Paraphrasing a bit, a campaign spokesmouth pointed out Romney released 600 pages of tax returns for Pete's sake so why is anyone surprised that it's hard to keep track of that much money? Also they would like to point out they will have to pay an army of accountants overtime to straighten the filings out, thus Willard's personal contribution to the job creation just doubled.

Think this might come up in the debate tonight?

[Big thanks and a huge hug to my old pal blogenfreude who kindly linked in at Mike's Blog Round-up. It's been way too long since I've seen him on the internets.]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Brent Bozell declares war on liberal media

Lunatic culture warrior and self-appointed media watchdog Brent Bozell plans a $5 million attack on the "librul" media. Well actually he only has $3 million so far but apparently feels confident he'll be able to fleece the rubes for the other $2mil, no doubt with the help of his friends at Fox "News" who always are ready to lend a fellow Obama basher a hand.

Bozell plans to muster the troops of Wingnut Nation with a campaign conducted via "bumper stickers, billboards, traditional and online advertising" which will culminate with "the largest social media effort ever undertaken by conservatives." By golly, by the end of this campaign there won't be a single loyal Fox viewer in America who will believe a word the lying, character assassinating, liberal media says.

Rumors of his impending hire as a contributor on CNN so far remain unconfirmed. [original photo]

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No surprise, Newt lied, he has no friends

You'll recall John King opened the South Carolina debate by asking Newt Gingrich about his second wife's claim he asked for an open marriage while he was boinking Callista on the side. Newt reacted with great indignation. Newt pounded the lectern and roared, "Every personal friend I have who knew us in that period says the story is false." Newt further claimed these friends were offered to ABC News and ABC refused to give them air time to refute Marianne Gingrich's allegations.

Well, now comes his campaign spokesmouth who admits, Newt lied. He has no friends who were willing to speak to ABC on his behalf. The only "witnesses" Gingrich proffered were his two daughters, who were duly quoted in the news cycle right along.

Politico calls this confession "(a)n important victory for John King in his ongoing effort to justify last Thursday's confrontation." Wonder what they're smoking over there?

John King still looks like an idiot. He had two shots at Newt. As someone who almost always thinks of a killer comeback an hour after an argument is over, I had some sympathy for his failure to confront Newt the first time. It was an unexpected and aggressive response. But King had another chance with a second interview. When King told Newt that the campaign didn't actually produce any alleged friends willing to testify on his behalf, he allowed Gingrich to call it a bunch of baloney. What kind of victory is that? It's pure journalistic incompetence.

King had plenty of time to prepare for the second round. As I mentioned after the debate, the appropriate response would have been to ask Newt to produce the names of these ignored friends. As it stands the victory goes to CNN for forcing the campaign to finally admit Newt lied.

Meanwhile, Newt still wins because his fan base doesn't watch CNN and I think it's a safe bet this won't be mentioned on Fox "News." [original image]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Bring out the Bibles, bring out the guns, Jesus is coming to town

By Capt. Fogg

The headline in yesterday's paper summarizing the President's State of the Union message is 3/8 of an inch tall. The headline just under it, reading RICK SANTORUM RALLIES IN STUART is in bold face type and is much bigger. Welcome to the monkey house.

Santorum was here on Florida's Treasure Coast Tuesday, holding forth at the Community Christian Academy to parents and grade school students, a horror of which some are particularly proud. It's an "up-close look at politics in action," said school officials.

That live action, these politics, included a prayer by the 'Reverend' Dan Holland, affiliated with the school and the pastor of Community Baptist Church in Stuart, Florida.

"I like what he said in the South Carolina rally, where he said ' I come from a place where they have a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other'"

Rick Santorum doesn't need a script, because he really isn't saying much and with such an audience, it doesn't matter whether he makes sense or mangles facts or makes them up. Rick speaks from the pulpit and anything said Ex Cathedra will not be questioned by this crowd. Besides, it's precisely what they want to hear: Barack Obama is the worst president this country has ever had, who hates capitalism, wants to take away what God wants you to keep to yourself and is destroying our natural order of things. Don't forget this is a religion that demands that women be subservient, hints that black people should stay in their place and since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would vote for anything that hated Democrats.

Santorum's ever predictable message was about "family Values" "fiscal responsibility" and "ridding the White House of Barack Obama." One can take the last of the three as the real message since my idea of family values does not include veiled calls to armed crusade and lying about the economy.

An all-white group of 350 heard him say:

"we have to have a candidate who stands proudly, consistently, aggressively, forcefully for the values that made this country the greatest country in the history of the world."

Presumably that greatness was attained with Bibles and guns and anyone suggesting that we are in any way sinners, transgressors or less than perfect instruments of God's Christian ambitions, can go straight to Hell along with that apologist Obama.

They heard him howl about That Commie, apologist, freedom hating Obama bailing out Wall Street from the excesses and crimes the Republicans encouraged them in instead of using "free market forces" which would as any legitimate economist would likely tell you have brought that "greatest country in the history of the Universe" down to the level of Haiti. Still, the problem of galloping poverty isn't lack of resources, said Santorum, contradicting himself,

"the problem is in the home, the problem is in the churches, the problem is in the community. The people living in these woods are not the federal government's problem. . ."

Let's use poverty, disease and misery to fill the pews, because a just society is a commie, secular humanist Christ-hating society.

Perhaps he could have explained to me why the Republican's promise to provide jobs instead of food stamps while it's 'not the government's problem' isn't honest or consistent -- or how unlettered country folk with bibles and guns are going to help in the new anarchistic utopia he offers them -- but trying to present Rick Santorum as a rational candidate with any further agenda than dismantling all the rules that keep markets free, creating a new Christian aristocracy and most of all, hanging up that "White's Only" sign over the door at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a scam and a con and a farrago of flim-flam as great as any in the history of the world.

People like me can wonder how dismantling our entire economic system, refusing to pay the bills, can be called Conservatism, or any of the other radical, ultra-Chauvinistic, Denialist and dishonest rhetoric that smells more like Attila's unwashed hordes, but the blue-hair church ladies, their God smitten and brainwashed children and the rest of the angry Community Christian Academics don't seem to care. There's just something wrong out there and they don't know what it is and the sick Mr. Rick and his sanctimonious rabble are at hand to point out the enemies and heretics for the burning.

"This is why the earth is more than something to run your damned pipelines through"

Snow leopards. Sometimes Charlie Pierce and I think so much alike I wonder if we're somehow related. He could be my long lost brother. [original photo by leopard-pictures.com]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

A year late and a few hundred million short

Charlie is right of course, Romney knew he was running for office, for Pete's sake and he also knew he's what us peons refer to as filthy rich. If he had just released a few years of his tax returns a year or so ago, chances are it would be "old news" and nobody would be talking about it now.

By waiting so long, and only releasing one year, this happened:



Who could have predicted an ordinary Swiss bank account and few innocent off-shore investments wouldn't win the undying admiration of people worrying about possible foreclosure because they're underwater on their mortgage? [Via Political Wire]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Everything changes

I've been following him for nine of the ten years he's been blogging and never thought I would live to see the day when John Cole posted a photo of himself. Mixed reaction and not the world's most flattering pose, but my vote is adorable.

Meanwhile, my old pal, the blogger formerly known as Cernig of NEWSHOGGERS, who finally came out under his real name, Steve Hynd is moving to Editor In Chief of the Agonist.Org. Congrats to them both.

And my old friend Heretik has resurfaced at a new blog, Man Are We Screwed. Doesn't appear to be doing so many of the old photoshops we loved at his former blog, but he's still writing with a wit so sharp it could slice roast beef. Check out What Heretik learned at Sundance, in two parts.

Room to Move

Song in my head.

Steve Benen has been at the Washington Monthly for so long, I had to google to remember the name of his first blog I read religiously, The Carpetbagger Report. He's possibly the most prolific blogger on the planet. He curates everything. He catches the stories early. He includes copious important context. Brutally honest but reliably equanimous in his opinions. When I want to get up to speed on an issue, I read him first.

This burst of nostalgia inspired by the news Steve Benen is moving to MSNBC. Feels like a good match. Congratulations to them both.

If called, Christie would serve

Back from my dinner date with one last thought about my favorite conspiracy theory before we throw it back into the catch-all folder.

Steve M. flags New Jersey gasbag governor's interview on Meet the Press. I agree Dancing Dave's hero worship of Christie is nauseating. And I agree Christie's carefully phrased answers signal a decided interest in a changing his zip code to 20050. But not so sure it's the VP's doorbell he's hearing in the distance.

This suggest to me, Christie is musing about a street address that starts with 1600:

Christie also suggested Sunday that his previous aversion to the idea of being president was more about having to spend a year-plus campaigning, rather than how ready he was to take on the job. Does it?

“Everybody’s misunderstood what I meant about saying being ready for president,” Christie said. “I meant that, you know, being ready to leave the job that I had and being ready to run for president of the United States, with all that entails. I didn’t want to do it, didn’t feel ready to do it.”

Preemptive revision of the one remark he's made that could haunt him in a two month long campaign?

Maybe I'm reading too much into it. But, the Village punditry is talking about a brokered convention. The buzz gets louder over time. Guessing Christie is listening.

Sure it's a long shot. But it doesn't hurt to be ready, just in case your dark horse comes in.

If it ain't brokered, how are they going to fix it?

I was planning to let my favorite conspiracy theory rest but with Newt's big win in South Carolina, the panic among the GOP establishment demands a brief resurrection. This comes up today because Josh at TPM noticed GOP pundits wishing for a savior to emerge from the shadows and rescue their primary from this lunacy. Josh runs the numbers and rightfully notes it's much too late for someone to jump in via the traditional route.

I tweeted Josh to mention the wishful thinking I've seen rests more on a brokered convention. Not making that up. I don't have cable but Angry DougJ saw it on the morning after South Carolina. And I saw a few headlines roll through Memorandum suggesting it as well.

Josh then tweeted: To answer: I think in the 21st century, brokered convention guarantees loss in Nov. & who convinces Newt/Mitt to give up their delegates?

I have an answer to that. It wouldn't fit into a tweet, but let's review my old posts. If you think about it, a draft in August leaves a candidate with only two months of media exposure. Which happens to be about the same length of time every GOP frontrunner who is not Mitt has enjoyed the adoration of the base. I wouldn't bet money that they couldn't win with that strategy.

If the primary battle does continue until the convention, all the candidates will have fatal flaws well exposed. Party is fractured. Not exactly a path to victory either. What do they have to lose with a draft? And my money is still on Chris Christie as the guy they would pick to save them. Sure he's had some exposure as Romney's wingman, but he's said nothing on the campaign trail yet that has hurt him. He's wowed the crowds at every stop. Not impossible for me to envision, if it indeed did come down to Mitt and Newt, that Mitt could be Christie's VP instead of the other way around. Mitt is still young enough to parlay a VP slot into one more future run for top dog in eight years.

And as for Newt, hell, how hard is it to buy him off? They could do it with a straight money bribe. Or they could offer him a high profile slot in the administration where he could parlay his grifting skills into a personal fortune.

Again, not saying I believe it's a plausible theory, but never say never, especially given politics as they're practiced in this age.

Off the hook

Why I love the twitter machine. This, from 1964, showed up in my stream with the caption, "They seemed so dangerous then." So they did, but in retrospect, they look so innocent compared to what happened after...



Via my long time pal A. Rascal, who introduced me to the fabulous Michele Hush, who not only has an exquisite eye for the gorgeously historic sounds and images of my era but is on a mission I admire and support. Instantly fell in love with her blog dedicated to rescuing the endangered word "divinipotent." Click over and check the sidebar to find other words in need of adoption.

It's Mitt's turn

Willard "Mittens" Romney wants his turn darn it, so don't you try to jump the line.



Crankiness is just so presidential. [via Think Progress]

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Who does Romney think he's fooling?

So after his thrashing in South Carolina, Romney announced he'll be happy to release his tax returns on Tuesday so everyone will stop talking about it. His use of the plural is somewhat misleading. He's only going to show his 2010 return and an estimate for 2011. Which is good enough for Newt, who says as far as he's concerned, the issue is behind us. However it seems unlikely to shed much light on Willard's finances. Easy enough to sanitize the current returns. And willing to bet a few people might be interested in taking a look at his returns from his prime years at Bain.

Besides, this paltry offering hardly fulfills historic precedent. As Steve Benen notes:

When Barack Obama ran in 2008, he released returns for the previous eight years. When Bill Clinton ran in 1992, he disclosed 12 years. As we were reminded on Thursday night, when George Romney ran, he set “a groundbreaking standard,” releasing 12 years of returns. He said at the time, “One year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show.”

Our man Mittens could take a lesson from his Dad. Granted Papa Romney didn't win, but at least he set a standard for telling the truth. A family legacy that his son now trashes daily with every shameless falsehood he spews on the campaign trail today.

Addendum: Of course, you realize that Tuesday is also when President Obama gives his State of the Union speech. A mere coincidence, I'm sure.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Till we meet again Congresswoman Giffords

Not unexpected that Gabby Giffords is stepping down. Still. Fair warning. Grab some kleenex before you watch her goodbye (for now) video.



Tears of sadness and anger that she would be robbed so cruelly of her life's work. But she's a strong woman and made great progress already. Like to think she'll make a full recovery someday and a triumphant return to D.C.

That's no dog whistle

Of course, you know by now Newt trounced Willard in South Carolina's primary yesterday. The exit polling showed the voters were most concerned about the state of the economy and many decided on their votes only at the last minute, choosing Newt based on his debate performance. And by that they don't mean that he presented a grand, cohorent plan to repair said worrisome economy.

Hearing a lot of talk about dog whistles this morning. That was no dog whistle that enthralled the true conservatives of the south. Newt pulled out a high powered bullhorn with the volume set on 11. He won their hearts with his sneering putdown of Juan Williams, his self-righteous indignation at the despicable, elite liberal media daring to question his morality and his only slightly more subtle jabs at that uppity usurper in their White House. Visions of a cowed "Nobama" on the debate stage dance in their befuddled heads.

What does it mean going into Florida? Damned if I know. This is weirdest primary ever but I'm thinking not much. For one thing, the twitter tells me turnout was nearly historic. About 100K more turned out than might be expected. I'm also told it was an open primary, meaning Democrats could vote in it. Wondering how many Dems may have decided to help keep the GOP freak show going for the pure entertainment value.

In Florida only Republicans will be voting. And Florida conservatives are not all the sons and daughters of the Confederacy. They include a lot of transplanted Yankees of some means who are less likely to hold Willard's wealth and awkwardness in glad handing the hoi polloi against him.

It's politics, so anything can happen. It's a fool's game to predict the whims of a fickle electorate all too easily swayed by slick campaign ads. My guess is Willard is still looking good for it in the long run. But one thing I know for certain, the "elite" media is delighted with last night's outcome. Judging from my tweet stream, they're very much looking forward to spending some time in sunny Florida.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]