Old (Fading) Glory

The truth hurts.

From Charles M. Blow, writing in Saturday's New York Times:

It’s time for us to stop lying to ourselves about this country. America is great in many ways, but on a whole host of measures — some of which are shown in the accompanying chart — we have become the laggards of the industrialized world. Not only are we not No. 1 — “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” — we are among the worst of the worst.

Yet this reality and the urgency that it ushers in is too hard for many Americans to digest. They would prefer to continue to bathe in platitudes about America’s greatness, to view our eroding empire through the gauzy vapors of past grandeur.

Republicans have even submitted a draconian budget that would make deep cuts into the tiny vein that is nonsecurity discretionary spending, cuts that would prove devastating to the poor and working class.

More here.

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Turns Out You Can Judge A Book By Its Cover!

Gail Collins of the New York Times reminds us of the other myths being pushed by GOP hucksters this holiday season:

Mitt Romney is pushing “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness,” which is doing well in sales despite the fact that Romney’s central concern is whether America will become “the France of the 21st century.” Given all our problems, does that sound so bad to you, people? Your medical care would improve, your life expectancy lengthen and dinners would be much tastier.

Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota, is about to embark on a nationwide tour for “Courage to Stand: An American Story.” Be the first on your block to learn how T-Paw’s youthful struggles in South St. Paul gave him the courage and tenacity to balance the Minnesota state budget! Pawlenty’s background in many ways resembles that of the about-to-be House speaker, John Boehner, although I am relieved to note that he does not generally break into tears when talking about it.

Mike Huckabee has written eight books — quite an output, even though his latest, “Can’t Wait Till Christmas,” is only 32 pages. Some people will find that kind of brevity really attractive, particularly since in it Huckabee has nothing whatsoever to say about the federal budget.

Instead, we learn that when he was a youngster (spoiler alert) Huckabee prematurely opened up a gift that he correctly intuited was a football. It was only a hop, skip and a jump from there to understanding the true meaning of Christmas and becoming governor of Arkansas. Then Huckabee lived out his holiday fantasies by collecting a record $112,000 in presents in a single year, including $48,000 in clothing and a chainsaw.

That last part is not in the book.

Huckabee is a sluggard compared with Newt Gingrich, who has written 22 novels and works of nonfiction. Unless you have already gotten a head start on this project, I am sorry to say you’re probably not going to make it through the Gingrich oeuvre in time for the New Hampshire primary.

Gingrich has been twittering his followers with reminders that he’s got enough product to allow them to do all their Christmas shopping at Newtland. (“5 Principles for a Successful Life is #11 in Gingrich Productions’ 12 Days of Xmas Presents countdown.”)

Among the options are his latest nonfiction entry: “To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine.” This is the one that compares Democrats with Nazis.

It should not be confused with “Saving Freedom: How We Can Stop America’s Slide Into Socialism” by Senator Jim DeMint. That’s the one with a cover that shows the American flag behind barbed wire.

Maybe it’s just me, but neither one of the books really feels like Christmas.

Sarah Palin is out with “America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag.” One of the reflections missing is who did the writing. You have to get to the very end of the book, and work your way through the acknowledgements of Palin’s family, friends, our veterans, “Common-Sense Constitutionalists,” “Prayer Warriors” and her lawyer before she notes that conservative speechwriter Jessica Gavora did “most important work” on the tome.

Pawlenty’s helper, by the way, was Mark Dagostino, who previously co-authored “My Life Outside the Ring,” the autobiography of the former wrestler Hulk Hogan. As of this writing, Hogan is not a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.

Wouldn't Hulk Hogan be an upgrade?

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Pay To Play

Paul Krugman in Monday's New York Times:

A note to Tea Party activists: This is not the movie you think it is. You probably imagine that you’re starring in “The Birth of a Nation,” but you’re actually just extras in a remake of “Citizen Kane.”

True, there have been some changes in the plot. In the original, Kane tried to buy high political office for himself. In the new version, he just puts politicians on his payroll.

I mean that literally. As Politico recently pointed out, every major contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination who isn’t currently holding office and isn’t named Mitt Romney is now a paid contributor to Fox News. Now, media moguls have often promoted the careers and campaigns of politicians they believe will serve their interests. But directly cutting checks to political favorites takes it to a whole new level of blatancy.

Krugman continues:

As the Republican political analyst David Frum put it, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox” — literally, in the case of all those non-Mitt-Romney presidential hopefuls. It was days later, by the way, that Mr. Frum was fired by the American Enterprise Institute. Conservatives criticize Fox at their peril.

So the Ministry of Propaganda has, in effect, seized control of the Politburo. What are the implications?

Read the column here.

Good-Bye To All That...

Click on image to enlarge. H/T: Phillip Niemeyer in the New York Times.

Ya Don't Say!

Columnist Maureen Dowd in the New York Times:

The normally nonchalant Barack Obama looked nonplussed, as Nancy Pelosi glowered behind.

Surrounded by middle-aged white guys — a sepia snapshot of the days when such pols ran Washington like their own men’s club — Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at a president who didn’t.

But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!

The outburst was unexpected from a milquetoast Republican backbencher from South Carolina who had attracted little media attention. Now it has made him an overnight right-wing hero, inspiring “You lie!” bumper stickers and T-shirts.

The congressman, we learned, belonged to the Sons of Confederate Veterans, led a 2000 campaign to keep the Confederate flag waving above South Carolina’s state Capitol and denounced as a “smear” the true claim of a black woman that she was the daughter of Strom Thurmond, the ’48 segregationist candidate for president. Wilson clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber.

I’ve been loath to admit that the shrieking lunacy of the summer — the frantic efforts to paint our first black president as the Other, a foreigner, socialist, fascist, Marxist, racist, Commie, Nazi; a cad who would snuff old people; a snake who would indoctrinate kids — had much to do with race.

The rest of Dowd's belated eye-opening is here.