Day: July 30, 2012

The Rise of the A**hole Class

Buck Banks

The asshole has become a focus of collective fascination for us, just as the phony was for Holden Caulfield and the cad was for Anthony Trollope. From Donald Trump to Ann Coulter, from Mel Gibson to Anthony Weiner, from the reality TV prima donnas to the internet trolls and flamers, assholism has become the characteristic form of modern incivility, which implicitly expresses our deepest values about class, relationships, authenticity, and fairness. We have conflicting attitudes about the A-word — when a presidential candidate unwittingly uttered it on a live mic in 2000, it confirmed to some that he was a man of the people and to others that he was a boor. But considering how much the word does for us, and to us, it hasn’t gotten nearly the attention it deserves — at least until now.

— From “Ascent of the A-Word: Assholism, the First Sixty Years,” by Geoffrey Nunberg.

Mitt Might Be a Wimp

Buck Banks

The episode highlights what’s really wrong with Romney. He’s kind of lame, and he’s really … annoying. He keeps saying these … things, these incredibly off-key things. Then he apologizes immediately — with all the sincerity of a hostage. Or maybe he doesn’t: sometimes he whines about the subsequent attacks on him. But the one thing he never does? Man up, double down, take his lumps.

— From a A Newsweek cover story that says Mitt Romney’s trip to London — where he “managed to alienate just about every living Briton” — suggests he might just be too insecure to be president.

A Recession of Republicans’ Making

Trish

4.4%

Projected growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013, if Congress avoids another debt ceiling fiasco when they debate extending the Bush tax cuts on income over $250,000 after the November elections. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), who made the estimates, also projects 2 million new jobs next year if Congress acts responsibly. If not, the CBO says the economy will go back in recession.

‘Dark Money’ Dominating Election Spending

Buck Banks

$172 million

Amount of “dark money” politically involved groups that do not disclose their donors have spent, through July 26, on campaigns that include television, radio and Internet advertising, according to Huffington Post. Total spending by these groups is likely far greater, since they are required to report only a fraction of their spending to the FEC. Politically involved independent groups that publicly disclose their donors, including super PACs, have spent $174 million so far this election cycle.

Busted: Charles Krauthammer Is 100% Wrong about When the Churchill Bust Was Loaned to the Bush White House – It Was in July 2001, Not after 9/11

Jon Ponder
Screenshot from the Bush White House website showing George Bush accepting the bust of Winston Churchill on July 16, 2001.
Screenshot from the Bush White House website showing George Bush accepting the bust of Winston Churchill on July 16, 2001.

Pres. Obama recently remarked that politics can sometimes seem small. A prime example of this smallness is the controversy Republicans have been stoking for three-plus years now over the disposition of a bust of Winston Churchill that was loaned to the Bush White House in 2001. The latest stoke came yesterday from the right-wing Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, in an article titled, “Busted: Mr. Pfeiffer and the White House blog“:

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