September 1, 2010
The Muddled Election Story-Hearst piece
Writers note: Since this was filed last week (the delay is required) Lisa Murkowski has conceded in Alaska which adds emphasis to the points raised here.
^(For use by New York Times News Service clients)@<^
THE MUDDLED ELECTION STORY
By BOB FRANKEN@=
^C.2010 Hearst Newspapers@=
WASHINGTON It's hard to get a handle on this year's political drama. Here's a shocker: There isn't one. Yet.
It's a work in progress and anyone who spouts the conventional wisdom of the moment does it at their own peril. We don't yet know if it will turn out to be anti-incumbent, anti-Obama, anti-Democratic. . . or if the voters are just plain mad in general.
Florida's confused primary is a case in point (I know, I know, who ever heard of a confused election in Florida?)
We can start with Charlie Crist. He didn't have a victory party Tuesday night because, well, he doesn't have a party and didn't have a victory.
Since the Florida governor-turned-U.S.-Senate candidate has turned himself inside-out to avoid having the job done for him, he doesn't get his fight for survival until November.
Crist, who was elected governor four years ago as a Republican, now is seeking the Senate seat as an independent because polls earlier this year showed that he was a likely loser in the Republican primary against way more-conservative Marco Rubio.
The Democrats nominated the son of an iconic congresswoman and four-year House member, Kendrick Meek. Meek beat the really rich guy, Jeff Greene, to win the Democratic nomination which sets up the three-way Senate contest in November: Republican Rubio, Democrat Meek and Independent Crist.
In the Republican gubernatorial contest, another of the super wealthy, former hospital executive Rick Scott, defeated Bill McCollum, the state's attorney general.
We can look at the very opposite corner of the country to Alaska to see that the nationwide narrative is all over the map. There, incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who goes beyond establishment into dynasty, is now in a role reversal. She is struggling to come from behind against upstart challenger Joe Miller in the Republican Senate primary.
The plot thickens because another main character is Sarah Palin and her Tea Partiers.
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August 28, 2010
TV and Me
I'm on MSNBC Sunday, August 29 at 9:30 AM, Eastern
August 26, 2010
Last Week's Hearst Piece
^THE APATHETIC REGULATORS@<
^(For use by New York Times News Service clients)@<
^By BOB FRANKEN@=
^C.2010 Hearst Newspapers@=
WASHINGTON _ In our supposedly open system of government, the fact is that we often don’t get to see where the meaningful action takes place.
Oh sure, we watch and shake our heads at the contortions of our politicians getting twisted into knots in Congress and the White House. At least we see some of it.
But even after legislation is passed and signed, it then heads to the federal agencies whose job it is to decide how these new laws will be put into practice.
A recent investigative story written by Stewart Powell, Richard Dunham and Spencer Gaffney of the Hearst Newspapers Washington bureau examines how the bureaucrats answer far too much to lobbyists. Before they're through whittling away, the agencies have sometimes shaved the stated purpose of the law to nothing or even turned it inside out. They sabotage any chance of effectively enforcing what's left on the bones.
Full disclosure: This column is written for the Hearst News Service, independent of the news report, which was also written for Hearst. The article stands on its own as a piece of original journalism that does a great public service. It is based on in-depth reporting on the hows and whys of the cozy relationship between regulators and regulates and it gets to the shadow reality of the federal government.
The Hearst article goes into great detail about the revolving doors and big money that help the oil and gas industry keep federal officials at bay. Of the 694 lobbyists registered for the energy lobby, 434 of them have previously been federal employees.
And it's a two-way street. The Hearst piece points out that ``agency officials often are recruited from the very industries they are mandated to regulate.’’ Combine that with the heavy loads of cash used to, ah, persuade members of Congress to underfund, understaff and undermine effective enforcement, it’s not hard to see how various industries can simply flout the intent of the law.
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August 20, 2010
First Amendment Foolishness
So let's get this straight Sarah (may I call you Sarah?). You fiercely defend talk show host Laura Schlessinger's repeated use the "N-word" on her radio program because of her First Amendment protections but oppose the exercise of Muslims'First Amendment rights to build a Mosque near the 9/11 site.
To review the recent Palin Twittergrams: re:Schlessinger: "Don't retreat...reload!" (What does that even mean?) and her constitutional privileges "ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence her" (which is almost 2cute, but hey, the Freedom of Expression she cites for Schlessinger applies 2her2.)
But when the Mamma Grizzly roared from her cave at Fox News about the lower Manhattan Islamic Center, that was a "stab in the heart" which didn't deserve the Freedom of Religion in that same very same opening sentence in the Bill of Rights.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
It almost fits into one of Palin's beloved Twitter messages. In a tweetshell it guarantees the rights 2worship, 2speak freely, 2report the news, 2peaceably assemble and petition.
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