Across the Great Divide

Bush Billboard Sponsor Would Get My Business.

Fox & Friends Gretchen Carlson strives mightily to make one sponsor of the "Miss me yet?" billboard into an anti-Obama small  businessman, and Mike Rivard declines the opportunity more than once.

(Carlson says Rivads has a "gardening business." In fact, it's a wood products business.)

I think Rivard came across as a decent guy, and Carlson as a partisan pot-stirrer.

Take Your Pick: Reckless or Feckless?

The historian Alan Brinkley has observed that we will soon enter the fourth decade in which Congress — and therefore government as a whole — has failed to deal with any major national problem, from infrastructure to education. The gridlock isn’t only a function of polarized politics and special interests. There’s also been a gaping leadership deficit.

– Frank Rich on the States of the Union and of Congress

George W. Bush had a much easier time enacting his agenda because he simply decided to finance the entire thing with borrowing and got his party to go along.

The second problem is that, even if Democrats could reduce the deficit on their own and somehow could be insulated from the political harm, they have no incentive to do it. Why should they, when the Republicans don't share the goal? [...] There's no set of fiscal circumstances under which Republicans would not enact large tax cuts if given the votes to do so.

– Jonathan Chait, on the impossibility of fiscal restraint

This Might Warm You Up.

Or at least feel better.

Jon Stewart breaks down the bombast of Fox News and the dramatic national consequences of Tuesday's election of our new president, Scott Brown.

*****

Jon Tevlin writes about artist Brant Kingman's conflicts with Minneapolis zoning authorities.

Kingman says the events he hosts are community art. The city says they are dangerous parties.

"It just so happens my medium is people," Kingman said the other day while his newest artwork played on a computer -- a video of naked people dancing while he "painted" them with colored lasers. "I try to bring people out of themselves."

I've attended one of them. The live music was very good. The crowd, diverse, although maybe self-selecting for a tolerance of pretentiousness. The food was ample and high quality and the beer was free.

The wood fire was too smoky for my taste, but his braziers were cool looking, and I never felt close to being endangered. The few commenters on the Strib column seem to agree.

Here's one where Jeff and I probably agree, too.

*****

Then, there's this story, where an artist goes without fire altogether.

SERIOUS cold, Justen Ladda said, is when the sponge in the kitchen sink feels like wood or the toothpaste freezes or the refrigerator turns itself off, as it did one particularly frigid day last winter. Not that Mr. Ladda, a 56-year-old sculptor who has lived heat-free in his Lower East Side loft for three decades, is bothered by such extremes. “Winter comes and goes,” he’ll tell you blithely, adjusting his black wool scarf and watch cap. (Along with fingerless gloves, long underwear and felt slippers, they are part of Mr. Ladda’s at-home uniform when the mercury dips.)

Number of the Day: Joe Lieberman, Healthcare Reformer.

The NY Times sums it up pretty well. Lieberman is about Lieberman.

In an interview with The Connecticut Post, he said he had been refining his views on health care for many years and was “very focused on a group post-50, or maybe more like post-55” whose members should be able to buy Medicare if they lacked insurance.

This week, when there actually seemed to be a compromise on health care that did not focus on Mr. Lieberman, he announced that he would block the package if the Democrats included a terrible idea — allowing people between 55 and 65 to buy Medicare.

What Really Matters in Politics and War.

Bob Herbert pretty much says it for me.

The tougher choice for the president would have been to tell the public that the U.S. is a nation faced with terrible troubles here at home and that it is time to begin winding down a war that veered wildly off track years ago. But that would have taken great political courage. It would have left Mr. Obama vulnerable to the charge of being weak, of cutting and running, of betraying the troops who have already served. The Republicans would have a field day with that scenario.

And political field days, as we all know, are what really matter in a country badly in need of some nation building of its own.

Partnered with a corrupt government, Pres. Obama is now officially stuck fighting an unwinnable war against a tribal society across a harsh land that has defeated every comer throughout history, so he can claim some temporary, limited victory.

And the Republicans are going, Yessss!!!

Top 10 Recipes for Disaster.

I saw this link to Nora Ephron's "Top 10 Thanksgiving Recipes You Didn't Cook Last Year That You're Cooking This Year" post at HuffPo, and figured it would be a parody of the GOP's Top 10 Things That Didn't Win Last Year But We'll Insist Candidates Do Next Year.

But nope — recipes.

Financial PAC Money to Democrats — Less Than Meets the Eye?

Here's the kind of transparency report that annoys me because it seems to come with a point of view attached.

The House Financial Services Committee voted yesterday to give regulators the authority to break up large financial firms that create too much systemic risk, in an effort to prevent future financial crises. The vote passed by a 38-29 margin, but three Democrats joined with all Republicans voting no. Those three Democrats--Melissa Bean (D-IL), Dan Maffei (D-NY), and Gregory Meeks (D-NY)--received an average of $99,483 from banks' PACs in the last two years, 119% more than the average of $45,358 received by the 38 Democrats voting for tougher regulation.

Comparing the averages implies that the financial industry exerted a disproportionate influence over the three Democrats voting against the regulation.

But the top three Democratic members who voted for the legislation collected more than $435,ooo from the banks PACs, versus only $298,000 for the three Democrats voting against. Committee Chair Barney Frank and bill co-sponsor Paul Kanjorsky together took more PAC money than the breakaway three.

And when you look at the total dollars paid out by the industry to the top 15 recipients — which includes all three "no" voters — the 12 Democratic supporters of tougher regulation among that group collected almost $1.126 million. The other "yes" voters got another $1.384 million.

It's just possible the three Democrats voted the interests of their districts or their consciences. Looking at the money alone doesn't tell us that, but the analysis makes a dark inference.

As for the Republicans, we don't know how much they got. The analysis doesn't tell us the average amount that "bought" the GOP votes.

Angry Politicians Make Lousy Leaders.

Four years ago, Jill Krout recalls, she stood angrily before the Greenfield City Council, railing against then-Mayor Larry Plack and urging him to resign for the good of the city.

On Thursday night, during a sometimes heated meeting, resident after resident of the small Hennepin County community railed against now-Mayor Jill Krout, urging her to resign for the good of the city.

– "Residents implore Greenfield mayor to resign," Star Tribune

One of the hoariest cliches coming from political campaigns — especially from challengers — is "I'm going to fight for you!" 

The fired-up candidate promises to cut taxes, save marriage, expand health care, find jobs for laid-off workers, stop illegal immigration or stop Wall Street from making piles of money. Even (especially?) in local elections, they start out angry about something — fluoride in the water, snowplowing or building inspectors — hoping to storm into office buoyed by other mad people.

Now, Greenfield and its mayor are discovering how that sort of thing works out.

Anger has its place in politics, I guess. It may work when running a campaign, but it's no way to run a railroad. Mayors are supposed to be able to run their cities, or at least supervise the people who do.

Anger carried into office can turn into dysfunction, just as it does in families. It puts the wrong people in charge, or more often, puts them on the back bench.

I tried to think of something a person could do better angry than not. All I could come up with was murder; they'd also be better at getting caught.

"Angry" candidates are either inauthentic, clueless or destined to be ineffective. I'm all for passion, but please spare me the pre-fight routine.

Bachmann: Is She Any Closer to Reality?

Asked whether she might consider an office beyond the House, Ms. Bachmann, who has announced plans to seek re-election, did not address other possibilities. “I am focused 100 percent on representing Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District and ensuring their voices are heard in Washington,” she wrote in an e-mail response to questions.

— "A G.O.P. Agitator Not Named Palin," New York Times

Rep. Bachmann has a funny definition of 100-percent focus. For example, she has one of the highest profiles with those noted 6th District constituent services fellows Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Larry King. At the same time, she's missed roughly one-sixth of her Congressional votes (making her record one of the very worst in Washington).

Now, I don't think showing up is necessarily a measure of effectiveness, so we can cut her a bit of Across the Great Divide Slack™.

But what about, you know, getting bills passed to benefit her constituents, make the state run more efficiently, improve educational performance or even cut taxes?

I can't find the link right now, but I did check Bachmann's record in the Minnesota Legislature and found that she managed to pass two bills she sponsored  in her entire career. One got a stretch of highway named in memory of a state trooper killed in the line of duty and the other added a small patch of lakeshore to an existing veteran's park.

Otherwise, she was a complete non-factor at Capitol. But she learned she didn't have to be — not if she struck controversial poses and flirted in that wholesome Christian way of hers. Saying insane things in plain English was called "straight talk," which is highly favored in some quarters over the difficult and nuanced truth.

She became the golden girl for people who don't want government to do anything, anyway.

She's carried that brand of service to Washington, and spiffed it up with a hard-working outreach campaign  that keeps her positions — if not her accomplishments — constantly in front of her supporters.

But if Rep. Bachmann were to accomplish something in Washington, it would be something like this:

“After years of discussion and planning, I am pleased to announce that the future VA Community Based Outpatient Clinic, which will provide increased access and service to our well-deserved [sic] veterans, is closer to becoming a reality,” said Bachmann.  

The VA has already opened two new CBOC's this year — one in Hibbing and one in Rochester. Another is planned for Rep. Tim Walz's First District, but the second term Congressman, who serves on the House Veteran's Affairs Committee, takes a lower key approach with his advocacy.

Meanwhile, in the Sixth, Bachmann is more or less claiming credit for an as yet unbuilt clinic that was first proposed two years before she was elected.

"Closer to becoming a reality" is as close to reality as Bachmann will ever get.

Confessions of a Mole.

It's time to tell the truth.

Yes, I'm a mole.

For five years, I have worked, mostly diligently, to convince you that some conservatives were indeed interested in building a decent world. Now that we've won and the first all-Minnesota presidential ticket is destined for the White House in 2012 — if not sooner — I might as well stop living a lie.

I left a cushy job creating marketing messages for corporate America to become a fake liberal blogger. This job was even cushier — fewer client meetings and working at home — and I took a nice salary bump.

There were drawbacks, of course. I had to quit the golf club. I had to sell the Jag and bike everywhere, even in the winter. Distasteful as it was, I disrespected my political heroes and said some very harsh things about certain political operatives. Now that they run the party, I hope they will remember my mission and treat me kindly. A communications directorship would be nice, with maybe a little side job as an election judge.

I had to attend Drinking Liberally, at least until I seriously relapsed and my bosses put me in rehab. I called it "Colorado." When it appeared my cover might be blown late last year, I started volunteering in homeless shelters.

All that was miserable, but I pressed on for the greater — though not necessarily majority — good.

My only real friend through all this was Jeff, who kept my spirit company here. He did a masterful job of walking the line between a reasonable conservative, an annoying libertarian and the whacko that all of you fear and detest.

Then Wilford Wicklund outed me. Oh, he was sly and I tried to respond with an equally sly comment. But I don't think I was that convincing. Finally, I should start being honest with myself again.

I have a meeting with my handlers this morning. I'm going to tell them my plan to come clean — that I'll lay everything out here. There may be water boarding, to make sure I wasn't a double mole. If they don't let me out alive, no matter.

I've already time-posted the story, and it will appear here, while I either head for the mountains or begin eternity with my savior.