The Bilerico Project

Newt Gingrich & Cory Booker: Dragged Into A Conversation They Can't Hold

Terrance Heath — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:30:00 -0500

This strange political season gets stranger by the day. The things I’m hearing and seeing from Newt Gingrich and Cory Booker today reminded me of a song from one of the last (and, in my opinion, underrated) albums by Culture Club; my favorite band from my 80′s youth. The lyric that comes to mind is from the band’s 1984 single, “Mistake No. 3,” when Boy George sings of people getting “dragged into a conversation they can’t hold.”

It’s been 28 years, and I still can’t figure out what that song’s about. But, it’s not hard to figure out that, despite coming at Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital history from opposite sides, Newt Gingrich and Booker let themselves get dragged into conversations they can’t hold.

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What the Bain Argument Is Really About

Terrance Heath — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:30:00 -0500

The 2012 presidential election may go down as one of the strangest political seasons in recent memory, for the simple reason that the influence of the financial sector in politics, policy and the economy has caused Republicans to sound like Democrats and Democrat to sound like Republicans -- usually with confounding results.

When Republicans sound like Democrats, like Newt Gingrich attacking Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital, they tend to start arguments they can’t win. When Democrats start sounding like Republicans, like Cory Booker defending Bain Capital, they tend forfeit arguments they could win. That’s because, in both cases, the politicians are arguing about the wrong things, in order to avoid the real argument -- the one America needs to have, and Americans need to win; the argument over what kind of economy we will have going forward.

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The Return of the Man from Bain

Terrance Heath — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:00:00 -0500

Told ya so. I said earlier that Newt Gingrich had pretty much written the script for at least one Democratic television spot, with his double-barreled attack on Mitt Romney’s vulture capitalist career at the helm of Bain Capital. I just didn’t think I’d be saying “I told ya so,” this soon.

Yet, here we are. The attack that launched a number of similar attacks from the rest of the GOP field -- not to mention an awful lot of analysis of the nature of private equity firms and questions about whether the contribute any real value to society or the economy -- has now launched an Obama campaign attack ad and website: RomneyEconomics.Com.

The 2-minute ad is now running in Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Virginia. The 6-minute version is viewable at RomneyEconomics.com.

Told ya so.

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Wisteria Lane: Once More Around The Block

Terrance Heath — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:00:00 -0500

(WARNING: SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU STILL HAVEN’T WATCHED THE DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES FINALE, AND DON’T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, READ NO FURTHER!)

Folding laundry, in our house, will never be the same again. That’s how my husband and I have spent every other Sunday for the past eight years -- sitting on the couch, folding laundry, and watching Desperate Housewives. Many things changed over those eight years. As Parker (who was about a year old when the show debuted) got bigger, so did his clothes. In the meantime, we packed away his baby clothes and toddler togs, only to unpack them again when Dylan was born, and we went from folding three sets of clothes to folding four sets of clothes.

But two things never changed in eight years: 1) That every other Sunday night was laundry night, and 2) that Daddy and Papa watched Desperate Housewives and folded laundry.

It got so that Parker started to pick up on it. Bedtime has always been pretty much the same every night, with occasional allowances made for later bedtimes on special nights. But not Sunday nights. Dylan’s bedtime is earlier, but Parker was marched upstairs by 9:00 pm sharp on Sunday nights. No arguing, and no discussion. No amount of begging or pleading, or even the occasional tantrum could change that, because at 9:00 pm the adults in our family finally reclaimed the television from children’s programming. (Whichever of us had Parker’s bedtime would miss the first 30 minutes, and the other would deliver a brief recap during the commercial break.)

It all ended Sunday night, with the final episode of Desperate Housewives, as we (along with 9.49 million other viewers) said goodbye to Wisteria Lane.

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America Is 'Evolving' Towards Justice

Terrance Heath — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:00 -0500

President Obama nearly cost me five bucks. In the build-up to his historic interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts, a co-worker announced that he would bet $5 that President Obama would end of his evolution on same-sex marriage, and announce his support of marriage equality. At least at least one person took him up on it.

If I were a gambling man, I’d have made that bet with confidence that by the end of the day I’d have an extra $5 in my pocket. In fact, I was so sure of it that I almost made that bet, though I would have taken no pleasure in winning. Of course, I now know I would have lost. But it’s a bet I would have been happy to lose.

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The Importance of Being Romney

Terrance Heath — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:30:00 -0500

Last month, blogs were abuzz about recent studies suggesting that wealth reduces compassion -- that increasing wealth corresponds with decreasing empathy for others. That’s gotta be one of the reasons Mitt Romney -- one of the the richest people to run for president in 20 years-- could stand in front of an audience of college students in Ohio and tell them “Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business,” without acknowledging that many of those students will struggle to find jobs and pay student loans after graduation? How else could Romney regale students with a story about a friend of his who borrowed $20,000 from his parents to start a business, and remain utterly oblivious to the fact that parents of most of the students in the audience probably didn’t have $20,000 to lend them in the first place?

However, at the University of Utah outside the loan office, students gave mixed reactions about whether they like the idea or not.

“If your parents are willing and able, I’m sure,” said U student Griffin Bullock. “That’s a better scenario to pursue than getting a loan from a bank or something else.”
“I think that that kind of shows how out there Mitt Romney is in terms of what he thinks is a normal amount of money to deal with in a regular situation,” added U student Karl Mathis.

And the students got to hear the story of how Romney and his wife Ann helped their son Tagg get his start in business.

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Snapshots of Austerity: Detachment

Terrance Heath — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:00:00 -0500

What’s end of the line for austerity? We’ve gone through despair, desperation, and indifference. The latter feeds the first two, creating what Robert Reich calls “a tinderbox society,” as “those collecting capital gains” demand austerity, resulting in “rising frustration over the inability of most people to get ahead. That frustration, Reich notes, is fanning the flames of public anger in Europe, fueling student revolts in Chile, and could plunge China into turmoil.

Where austerity goes, violence and unrest follow. The danger lies in the unpredictable nature of public anger, once ignited. When sparks fly, there’s no telling where they catch fire or who will get burned.

It’s a combustible concoction wherever it occurs: Increasing productivity, widening inequality, and rising unemployment create tinder-box societies.

Public anger and frustration can ignite in two very different ways. One is toward reforms that more broadly share the productivity gains.

The other is toward demagogues that turn people against one another.

To borrow a line from Bonnie Tyler’s 1983 hit single, austerity means “we’re living in a powder keg, and giving off sparks.

Except there is no more “we,” anymore. As austerity-engineered scarcity makes day-to-day survival, people see their fates as divorced from one another. Solidarity gives way to detachment, an “everyone for him or herself” becomes the general , if you want to survive.

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Perry Puckers Up

Terrance Heath — Sun, 06 May 2012 17:00:00 -0500

We can probably expect to see more of this. It will no doubt go on through the Republican convention. I mean the parade of Republican presidential wannabees now preparing to kiss up to Mitt Romney after attacking him so viciously -- and accurately -- during the seemingly interminable GOP primaries. (Which, by the way, are not officially over yet.) One of the latest to apply the chapstick and pucker up is Texas governor Rick Perry.

You may remember Rick Perry from his family’s unfortunately-named hunting camp, video highlights from his inspired New Hampshire speech, or the “strong” reaction to his viral web ad. Most recently. however, the man who arguably had the best hair in the Republican presidential field made news for flipping his endorsement to Mitt Romney.

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Snapshots of Austerity: Indifference

Terrance Heath — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:00:00 -0500

Depending on your point of view, the results on austerity are in. The roll call European countries with shrunken economies, mired in recession, is identical to the list of European countries yoked to austerity economics -- Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Greece (of course), and now the UK. Those countries are also experiencing varying degrees of public reaction and protest against austerity policies. In Prague, Czechs staged the biggest demonstrations their country has seen since the fall of communism, in protest of the austerity measures and corruption in Czech Republic’s center-right government. In France, president Sarkozy now faces a runoff, after elections that were a clear reaction against austerity. In the Netherlands, the prime minister resigned after EU austerity demands caused the government to collapse. In Romania, the government has collapsed in a no-confidence vote after violent protests against austerity toppled its prime minister in February.

Does the latest wave of uprisings finally sound the death knell for austerity? Not if austerians stay the course, don’t let themselves get spooked by protests in the streets and at the ballot box. If their protests have no impact, and austerity happened anyway, people will go home. They’ll forget about solidarity, worry more about survival, and arrive at the next phase of austerity’s impact on their lives.

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Dim Prospects for Progressive Media?

Terrance Heath — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:30:00 -0500

The American Prospect magazine is in trouble. Real trouble. I’ve responded to their SOS, but my small donation won’t be nearly enough to save the Prospect. Unless a lot more progressives invest in keeping it around, one of the best sources of progressive journalism and commentary may well go under. The prospect is far from alone in its plight. Many other similar progressive entities are in the same position, or teetering on brink of oblivion.

Conservative’s can afford to give away freebies like Human Events and the Washington Examiner, meanwhile progressive outlets like the Prospect go begging or go under. It looks like progressives can’t manage to keep our own media alive. The question is: Why?

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Stephen King: 'Tax Me, for F@%&'s Sake!'

Terrance Heath — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:00:00 -0500

Finally, someone's giving NJ governor Chris Christie (whom fellow blogger Richard Eskow rightly dubbed, "The Heartless, Smug, Bullying Embodiment Of The Republican Party") as good as he dishes out. At the Daily Beast, author Stephen King has posted a response to Christie's suggestion that Warren Buffett should just "shut up and right a check." A top-selling horror writer, King isn't the least bit scared of Christie's bombast. It's one of the best things I've read today, and not to be missed.

What groups like the Patriotic Millionaires and candidates like Elizabeth Warren have said with more civility and eloquence, King puts in language even Christie can understand.

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Cool Like Sandra Fluke

Terrance Heath — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 15:00:00 -0500

I already had a lot of respect for Sandra Fluke, given how gracefully she's handled some of the most vile attacks the right-wing has to offer. Unbowed and unbothered by it all, she's provided a pretty good example for anyone else who finds themselves in conservatives' crosshairs.

My level of respect only increased when I read Fluke's response to a FOX News twit's tweet in response to news of Fluke's recent engagement.

"I'm not going to let this kind of thing get to me personally," Fluke said during an appearance on MSNBC's "The Ed Show." "What really bothers me about it [is] the blatant homophobia in the comment, and the idea that that is an acceptable thing to say publicly."

Crowley caused a stir on Thursday when she responded to the news of Fluke getting engaged to her longtime boyfriend by tweeting, "To a man?"

During the MSNBC interview, Fluke said she was most disturbed that Crowley intended the tweet as an insulting joke.

"I don't want an apology from anyone personally," Fluke said. "I think it is possible she owes an apology to the LGBTQ community, because I am not offended to be asked whether or not I'm with a woman. It's not offensive to me to be gay, but it was clearly meant as an insult."

OK. So, in one statement Fluke defuses Crowley's attempted insult by pointing out that it's not insulting or offensive to her if someone thinks she's gay, then she turns it around by making the point that what's offensive is not Crowley's insinuation that Fluke might be a lesbian but that Crowley intended it to be an insult.

When I grow up, I wanna be cool like Sandra Fluke.

Romney, Through the Eyes of Newt

Terrance Heath — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 17:00:00 -0500

It comes to us all, eventually: that epiphanic, “come to Jesus moment” when the light of day finally penetrates our cloud of delusion, and undeniable reality slaps us hard across the face. That moment finally came for Newt Gingrich, who annouced that he will suspend his bid for the presidency. Tuesday night’s five-state Romney sweep apparently did what a bounced check and a penguin bite could not.

Since it’s unlikely that he’s going away anytime soon, it’s time to say “See you later” to Newt Gingrich. Oh, and “Thank you.”

Why thank New Gingrich? It’s only right to thank someone for giving a gift, especially one that keeps on giving like Newt’s viciously accurate attack on Mitt Romney’s vulture capitalist resume.

Let’s look back for a moment.

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Student Debt Free, At Last

Terrance Heath — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:30:00 -0500

When I graduated from high school, my parents expected that I would go to college. I say “expected,” but it was really closer to a demand than an expectation. As my father said, “I don’t know where you’ll go, but you’re going to somebody’s university.” Education was a high priority in our home. Even though neither of my parents went to college, they saw a college degree as the first step towards a “good job” and upward mobility.

We were comfortably middle class. So, I didn’t qualify for much in the way of financial aid. But my parents could not afford to foot the entire bill for my education, even at the public university I chose to attend. My grades were good enough to get me a few scholarships to make that first year easier, but that was it. Like a lot people, I financed my education through student loans.

I was 18-years-old when I went into debt to get an education -- as an investment in my future. That was over twenty years ago. Last year, at the age of forty-two, I finally paid off that debt.

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Snapshots of Austerity: Despair

Terrance Heath — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:30:00 -0500

When 77-year-old Greek pensioner Dimitris Christoulas sat down under a tree in Athens’ busiest public square and committed suicide -- shooting himself in the head not far from Parliament, and leaving behind a letter blaming the government’s austerity policies for driving him to it -- his act launched protests in Greece, and became another example of the price austerity exacts from those least responsible for and least able to pay the debts that austerity policies are intended to help the country pay. Christloulas’s story offers a snapshot of austerity’s consequences for the elderly, the young, the middle- and working classes, and just about everyone outside of the one percent -- and not just in Greece, but right here at home too.

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