Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
August 13, 2011
Who would have thought that Fox News and MSNBC could raise us out of our funk over the hyper-partisan media and their destructive influence on political discourse in America?
First, Fox: As hosts of the Republican Presidential debate Thursday Fox might have been expected to throw fat pitches to the favored candidates. But reporters Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, and Byron York* would have made the legendary Martha Rountree—creator of Meet the Press and no gentle tosser of fat pitches—proud.
Chris Wallace asked Gingrich about his entire campaign staff resigning, then asked Herman Cain about his claim that “communities have the right to ban Muslims from building mosques.” Byron York asked Bachmann to explain her statement that she was following biblical guidance to “Be submissive. Wives, you are to be submissive to your husbands.”
And Baier may have settled the 2012 Presidential contest when he asked the candidates to raise their hands if they would walk away from a deal to balance the budget with a ten-to-one ratio of spending cuts to tax increases. I haven’t seen hands shoot up so fast since I asked in a staff meeting who could use my tickets to Sunday’s Redskins game. Every single candidate claimed absolute dedication to not raise ANY taxes, not even on the super rich, not even on Big Oil, not even on tax-exempt GE. And we know it because of Brett Baier.
And MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow turned away from hyper-partisanship to recognize the courage of four prominent Republicans who defied (more…)
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Tags:be submissive, Bret Baier, Byron York, Chris Christie, Chris Wallace, civil discourse, courage, debt ceiling, essential air service, ethics, ethics heroes, FAA shutdown, Fox News, global warming, Jon Huntsman, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Martha Rountree, Meet the Press, Mitt Romney, mosques, partisan media, Rachel Maddow MSNBC, Republican Presidential debate, Sharia, ten-to-one ratio of spending cuts to tax increases
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Media, Politics | Leave a Comment »
August 4, 2011
The only people happy about the battle over the debt ceiling are the pundits, because it gives them an audience and an opportunity to display their insights. Oh, and people close to the President, because they know he won.
Months ago, when John Boehner and Mitch McConnell were assuring everybody that whatever happened they wouldn’t allow the nation to default, President Obama stated his position: he wanted a clean extension that would carry the country past the 2012 election. He didn’t ask for a tax increase on zillionaires, or a deficit reduction—these should be tackled aside from the debt ceiling increase, which after all is only needed to allow the United States to pay its obligations, every dollar of which had been authorized by the Congress.
But Boehner and McConnell couldn’t control their members, especially the Tea Party members who wanted to use the debt ceiling as a bludgeon to smash government. The ceiling had been raised without controversy dozens of times before under Presidents and Congresses of both parties. The Republican threat was a repudiation of ethics, duty, and the Constitution. Still, the threat came.
In the end, and just in the nick of time, the President got what he had asked for: a clean bill that simply raised the limit enough to carry the country past the 2012 election.
You could be confused by the words about a super-committee to identify trillions in savings, or about triggers to force cuts. Here are the facts: (more…)
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Tags:2012 election, ” financial crisis, clean extension, debt ceiling, default, deficit reduction, ethics, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Obama, out years, pundits, super-committee, tax increase, Tea Party, triggers
Posted in Ethics-general, Finance, Government, Politics | 3 Comments »
July 29, 2011
Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) yields to no one in his determination not to saddle future generations with government debt. This is from the Chicago Sun-Times:
Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.
“I won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town spends money!” Walsh says directly into the camera in his viral video lecturing Obama on the need to get the nation’s finances in order.
Walsh starts the video by saying, “President Obama, quit lying. Have you no shame, sir? In three short years, you’ve bankrupted this country.”
Walsh joins the ranks of family values politicians who have no family values.
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Tags:Chicago Sun-Times, child support, debt limit debate, ethics, family values, fiscal responsibility, hypocrisy, Joe Walsh, Obama, Tea Party
Posted in Ethics-general, hypocrisy, Politics | 1 Comment »
July 18, 2011
Ethics Bob is always on the lookout for fake apologies, so when CNN reported that News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch had made a non-apology my senses sharpened: who better to nail than Murdoch, the genius behind Fox News’s right-wing propaganda machine. I wanted to disbelieve Murdoch’s acceptance of any responsibility.
Here’s the ad he ran in British papers last weekend:
The News of the World was in the business of holding others to account.
It failed when it came to itself.
We are sorry for the serious wrongdoing that occurred.
We are deeply sorry for the hurt suffered by the individuals affected.
We regret not acting faster to sort things out.
I realise that simply apologising is not enough.
Our business was founded on the idea that a free and open press should be a positive force in society. We need to live up to this.
In the coming days, as we take further concrete steps to resolve these issues and make amends for the damage they have caused, you will hear more from us.
(signed) Rupert Murdoch.
One could quibble with Murdoch’s use of “wrongdoing that occurred” rather then “wrong that we did,” or “hurt suffered” rather than “hurt we caused,” but that’s only a small quibble. It looks to me, and I think will look to most people, that Murdoch is accepting responsibility. And by not putting the corporate name under his signature he’s signifying that the responsibility is personal. Hooray (gulp) for him.
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Tags:apology, CNN, fake apologies, Fox News, News Corp, News of the World, non-apology, phone hacking, police bribery, Rupert Murdoch, We are sorry
Posted in Apologies, Ethics-general, Media, Politics | Leave a Comment »
July 4, 2011
Republic
an opposition to raising the national debt ceiling calls for a stronger word than just ‘unethical.’ Irresponsible? Ugly? Dishonest? Maybe even unconstitutional, since the Fourteenth Amendment states, in Section 4,
“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”
The Republicans are trying to frame the argument as one of big government vs small government. But that’s false. The question is, does the government meet its obligations, all of which were authorized by law, that is, by Congress, in accordance with the Constitution. Every dollar of obligation was accrued in accordance with Congress’s direction; every government bond, every social security payment, every soldier’s pay, every bullet purchased…you get the idea.
House Speaker John Boehner has said that of course the debt ceiling would be raised, but now seems to be going back on that position to accommodate some in his caucus who have no sense off duty, no responsibility to govern.
If the Republicans continue questioning the public debt they’re inviting, in the words of The Economist, “ incalculable consequences for the world economy as well as America’s…That strikes some Americans as nothing less than blackmail.”
If the President continues to play their game he’ll be giving in to their blackmail and will have abandoned his responsibility to govern.
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Tags:big government, blackmail, Constitution, debt ceiling, duty, ethics, fourteenth amendment, government bonds, John Boehner, public debt, small government. obligations, social security payments, soldier’s pay, The Economist
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Politics | 1 Comment »
July 3, 2011
President Obama came out swinging at his news conference on Wednesday. Opinion is divided as to whether or not it was good tactics to attack the Republicans and to compare their sense of responsibility unfavorably to 13-year old Malia and 10-year old Sasha. In my opinion it violated a fundamental rule of political ethics, the dictum of Reinhold Niebuhr:
“The temper of and integrity with which the political fight is waged is more important for the health of our society than the outcome of any issue or campaign.”
But beyond the temper of the fight, there’s no question that the President crossed another, simpler, ethical line: tell the truth.
PolitiFact.com gave him a “Pants on Fire” rating for claiming his regulatory review is unprecedented, when in fact it’s a faint copy of the 1993 review that was a major part of the effort to reinvent government. (Full disclosure: I personally guided the preparation of President Clinton’s executive order and led the effort to slash 16,000 pages from the Federal Register and change the way government interacted with business.)
I think PolitiFact was unfair to the President. He certainly spoke an untruth, but it was only “pants on fire” if he knew he was speaking untruthfully. My guess is he didn’t.
However, he really deserved—and still deserves—“pants on fire” for the way he’s constantly mis-characterizing his tax proposal. For example (more…)
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Tags:corporate jets, ethics, Fact Checker, Federal Register, millionaires and billionaires, Niebuhr, Obama news conference, pants on fire, PolitiFact.com, regulatory review, reinventing government, tax breaks
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Politics | 2 Comments »
July 1, 2011
It’s always upsetting when one of your heroes turns out to be an unethical creep. I was sick when I learned—for certain—that Bill Clinton had lied to me on national TV, sad when I learned that my Dodger hero, Manny Ramirez, had used banned substances, and devastated when my biggest hero of all. Greg Mortensen (of Three Cups of Tea fame) had not really built girls schools in Taliban country and had in fact stolen millions from his non-profit.
Still, I’m not getting used to my heroes falling. Not even after the latest, Joe Scarborough, conservative ex-congressman (R-FL) and host of the fun morning political conversation, Morning Joe.
I posted yesterday about how Joe and his co-host, Mika Brzezinski, had goaded and cajoled Mark Halperin into expressing his honest opinion of President Obama’s performance at his press conference Wednesday. They assured him that any off-color remark would be bleeped by way of a seven-second delay. When the show’s producer pressed the wrong button, Halperin’s opinion, “I thought he was kind of a dick,” went out into the ether for all to hear. More giggles from Mika and Joe, then a heartbroken apology from Halperin, then Halperin was “suspended indefinitely.”
In urging him on, Scarborough had promised, “You fall down I’m going to catch you.” But he didn’t catch him. Not a word protesting the suspension or owning up to his responsibility. (more…)
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Tags:banned substances, Bill Clinton, cowardice, ethics, EthicsAlarms, Greg Mortensen, heroes, Jack Marshall, Joe Scarborough, Manny Ramirez, Mark Halperin, Mika Brzezinski, Morning Joe, Obama press conference, seven-second delay, Three Cups of Tea
Posted in Apologies, Entertainment, Ethics-general, Media, Politics | 2 Comments »
June 16, 2011
America’s public schools are the engine of America’s greatness. From the 1880s on they turned a flood of children of immigrants—most of them poor, illiterate, and speaking no English—into patriotic successful citizens, prepared for college or for a productive life without college. They laid the foundation for America’s productive might, innovative genius and entrepreneurial spirit.
Now they are failing. Big time. In Los Angeles, for example, only half of the students graduate, and of those who do, fewer that 30 per cent are ready for college, according to Los Angeles mayor Anthony Villaraigosa’s op-ed piece in today’s Los Angeles Times. And the story is similar all over America. In our cities it seems that the thing the schools are best at is preparing boys for prison and girls for single motherhood.
Last night I saw a wonderful documentary, Waiting for Superman. It documents not just the schools’ failure but also the kids’ ability to learn—to excel—when given good teaching. The movie makes vivid the burning of poor, uneducated parents to give their children a better chance, the conviction of some reformers and philanthropists that things could be better, and the cost in dollars and ruined lives of bad teachers.
The movie will stoke your anger at all the people who are allowing this tragedy to continue, and at the politicians who could do something and who don’t.
Watch the trailer.
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Tags:Anthony Villaraigosa, ethics, good teaching, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times, prison, public schools, single motherhood, Waiting for Superman
Posted in Education, Politics | Leave a Comment »
June 15, 2011
It feels awkward to praise in an ethics column somebody for showing simple decency, but considering today’s Republican candidates, simple decency is nothing to sneeze at.
So hooray for Mitt Romney for standing up for the rights of American Muslims. Romney dismissed the idea that Sharia law could ever be applied in American courts (“We have a Constitution”), and rejected Herman Cain’s position that Muslims should be singled out and treated differently (“We treat people with respect regardless of their religious persuasion.”)
By contrast, Cain and Newt Gingrich made it clear that they would be very reluctant to have any Muslims serve under them. The other participants, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul didn’t comment in the debate.
Bachmann has in the past shown suspicion toward American Muslims, while Santorum has stated that he considers Muslims to be as good American citizens as anybody. Paul has been downright heroic on this issue, blasting those in the conservative movement who use “hatred against Muslims to rally support.”
On another subject Paul earned praise from Ethics Alarms for his ethical and libertarian position on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. He was the only candidate to reject the policy.
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Tags:American Muslims, Constitution, decency, Don’t ask, don’t tell, ethics, Ethics Alarms, GOP debate, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Republican candidates, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Sharia
Posted in Ethics-general, Government, Politics, Religion, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
June 9, 2011
Maybe it’s time to change our opinion of ex-Senator George Allen (R-VA). In 2006 he became a poster child for racial insensitivity (to put the best face on it) when he called a heckler at a town hall meeting “macaca.”
Now he wants his seat back and faces a tough fight against former governor Tim Kaine. The last thing he needs is a primary challenge from the tea party right. But that’s what Allen risked when he brushed off suggestions that he leave the Aldersgate United Methodist Church after it opened its multi-purpose room to a local mosque that needed prayer space while its new facility was being built.
Church pastor Jason Micheli has been slammed by Mike Huckabee and others for his ecumenical spirit, and several members have left the church because of it. But not Allen, who deflected the idea of the church being an issue, saying, (more…)
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Tags:Aldersgate United Methodist Church, ethics, George Allen, Jason Micheli, Jon Stuart, macaca, Mike Huckabee, Muslim prayers, racial insensitivity, Tim Kaine, tolerance
Posted in Ethics-general, Politics, Religion, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
Who would have thought that Fox News and MSNBC could raise us out of our funk over the hyper-partisan media and their destructive influence on political discourse in America?
Ethics Bob 