"We Are Here For You, Donald"

The usually alert Andrew O'Hehir of Salon believes Democrats are pre-emptively blaming the media for a possible loss by Hillary Clinton. He crticizes the New York Times for running Paul Krugman's "How Clinton Gets Gored," in which Krugman noted "throughout the (2000) campaign most media coverage gave the impression that Mr. Bush was a bluff, straightforward guy, while portraying Al Gore... as slippery and dishonest."

There is no time now to explain the mainstream media's jihad against Al Gore in 2008, as Bob Somerby thoroughly did a few years ago. Characteristic, though, of the unbalanced general election reporting that was extraordinarily contemptuous of the Vice-President was a column by Frank Bruni of the "liberal" New York Times in which Al Gore was snidely condemned for demonstrating that he knew more about foreign policy than did his opponent. (After the debacle of the Iraq War was made clear, it didn't occur to Mr. Bruni to acknowledge his smear.)

However, there is no question what is happening to Hillary Clinton, in a campaign featuring phrases, as Michael Tomasky notes, similar to "nevertheless fuels the perception that the Clintons or their associates may have...."  It is one thing not to observe the signs and signals but the mainstream media is telling us what is going on.

CNN has done its part, such as with the "countdown clock" (in video here, beginning at approximately 3:30). The other day, Ashleigh Banfield finally spilled the beans when she admitted

We get these e-mails from the RNC every day doing a countdown (of) how many days it has been since Secretary Clinton has held a news conference...   big for everybody, not little gaggles and bits and pieces here.... I think we're at 176 or so.

Jeff Zeleny, he of the "liberal media," then identified the Republican National Committe as a neutral arbiter, claiming it is "trying to be the referee of this race."  The same network's Dana Bash has remarked Hillary Clinton "is a seasoned debater. Yes, we saw Donald Trump in the primaries debate for the first time, but he is a first-time politician. So for lots of reasons, maybe it's not fair but it's the way it is, the onus is on her."

Maybe it's not fair but, hey, too bad. If someone is more experienced, more knowledgeable, or better qualified, they'll simply raise the bar for her.  "Focus on the facts," Krugman advises. "America and the world can't afford another election tipped by innuendo." But it's what they do, and they're telling us they're doing it.

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On Second, Third, Or Fourth Thought

Last Wednesday, Donald Trump in Phoenix read off one of those evil teleprompters

For those here illegally today, who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only. To return home and apply for reentry like everybody else, under the rules of the new legal immigration system that I have outlined above. Those who have left to seek entry-

Jacob Monty, upon leaving Trump's Hispanic Caucus, promptly blasted the candidate for not having adopted his "plan that would improve border security, remove hardened criminals, and most importantly give work authority to the millions of honest, hardworking immigrants in the U.S." Defending the candidate, I argued

Monty feels wounded because Trump ignored much of his advice- and especially that he did not offer a road to legalization without citizenship, a chance for illegal immigrants to work for businessmen at substandard wages with few if any benefits.

I spoke too soon. Talking Points Memo reports

"We’re going to make that decision into the future," Trump told reporters when discussing the possibility for a path to legalization for undocumented immigrants, according to the Wall Street Journal.

And when asked about Republicans who support a path to legalization without forcing immigrants to first leave the country, Trump replied, "Good question. I’m glad you asked it. ... That decision will be made," according to the Wall Street Journal.

Or maybe not, because

In an interview with ABC News' David Muir, Donald Trump refused to say if undocumented immigrants who don’t necessarily want to become citizens would have to leave the country, admitting the possibility that they could stay.

When asked if some of the 11 million undocumented immigrants could stay, Trump replied, "It could be but what’s going to happen is if you’re going to be a citizen, you’re going to leave and you're going to have to come back."

When Muir asked whether Trump is "open to them staying here undocumented," the candidate responded "I'm going to make a decision,or somebody will. Whether it's me or somebody else because by that time we'll have a secure border, we'll have a wall."

Let's summarize:in Phoenix, Trump was against legalization. With the Wall Street Journal, the "decision" whether to offer a path to legalization "will be made."  With ABC News, Trump reverted to his opposition to legalization expressed in Wednesday's speech, after which he suggested no decision had been made whether illegal immigrants could remain (in 2013, temporary worker program in Canada, below).  That's aside from the reversal in his speech from the reversal he had made about a week earlier. It takes "spinning" and maybe "spin" to a whole new level.

Jane C. Timm has catalogued "117 distinct policy shifts on 20 major issues, tracking only his reversals since he announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015."  And that was before this recent double flip.  It's almost enough to make one question Donald Trump's suitability for the presidency.




















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Coverage That Can't Be Bought

It looks like it's working.

Donald Trump is not all lies and bravado and remarks which seem to undercut any chance of him attaining the presidency. Some moves have been tactically wise, including the media blacklist he initiated approximately.  According to CNN Money in June

In some cases, reporters from the offending outlets can still attend Trump campaign rallies as members of the general public, but without the access and privileges that press credentials provide. In other situations, like press conferences, the reporters cannot attend at all.

The news organizations blocked are Univision, BuzzFeed, Politico, The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, and the Des Moines Register.

Notably absent from that list is CNN, on whose website "Trump Brings Message of Unity To Black Church in Detroit." Really. There we learn

A subdued Donald Trump on Saturday directly addressed a largely African-American audience for the first time as a presidential candidate, delivering a warmly received message of unity that focused on fixing economic hardship in the black community.

Trump spoke to members of the Great Faith Ministries, a nondenominational church in Detroit, part of his outreach to what is typically a sizable Democratic voting bloc. His visit, however, was greeted by protests outside of the church ahead of his arrival.

Sitting in a pew at the front of the congregation, Trump took a selfie with a church member and at one point held up a baby over his shoulders. He then addressed the congregation.

What, no baby to kiss?  Reporters Eugene Scott and Ashley Killough continue

"For centuries, the African-American church has been the conscience of this country. So true," Trump said, reading from prepared remarks. He added, "The African-American faith community has been one of God's greatest gifts to America and its people."

Whatever the current standing of the black community in the USA, it is passing strange given that blacks in Africa became an African-American community by the process of slavery, a politician would refer to it as a gift from God.  Part of the great American mosaic, they were nonetheless given as a gift to white slaveholders, hardly a gift from God.

It was a slam at God which no one seemed to notice, as Trump was well-received both by the CNN reporters and church attendees, notwithstanding protesters outside the building. Neither did Bishop Wayne Jackson (January, 2014 video below), who had brought Trump to his church for a little politicking, draped a prayer shawl over the candidate's shoulders, and presented him with the evidently messianic Jewish Heritage Study Bible.










As a warning shot to any news outlet tempted to criticize the GOP candidate.Trump's attacks on the media are a strategic masterpiece. Similarly, visiting an African-American church may give to moderately conservative and centrist voters that warm, cozy feeling of voting for someone they believe (inaccurately, in this case) blacks are comfortable with. However, blacks are not likely to be swayed by a fellow who once stated of one of his employees “I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is; I believe that. It’s not anything they can control."

Perhaps "not anything they can control" is what passes for "compassionate conservatism" nowadays. Out of the mouth of David Duke, also a believer in inherent racial inferiority, it woud be recognized as "racism."  In the halls of CNN, however, a fellow who implored "oh, look at my African-American over here!" and tweets bogus statistics charging the black community wih being rife with murderers actually brings a heartfelt "message of unity."





                                                   HAPPY LABOR DAY






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Reparations Are For Consciences, Not For Students.

Bloomberg reports 

Student debt isn’t just a problem for job-hunting millennials -- it also could take a toll on retailers. As an increasingly large portion of Americans’ budgets go to repaying the loans, there’s less money left over for sweaters or home goods. Annual student debt payments have reached about $160 billion in the U.S., according to Moody’s Investors Service. That’s more than the yearly revenue of Amazon.com Inc., Home Depot Inc. and other major retailers.

Student debt is foremost on the minds of many American families.

It is not so at one elite university in an elite section of the nation's capital, however. Instead

Centuries after Georgetown University sold slaves to keep its doors open, the elite school is taking major steps to right its wrongs. Descendants of the people it sold in 1838 will now receive preferential status during the admissions process — possibly the first concession of its kind.

The State of Texas almost twenty years ago instituted a Top 10% Plan, "which guarantees students ranking in the top 10-percent of their high school class admission to any state universities along with increased financial aid."  Students with great potential with the misfortune  of attending a low-ranking school, often in poor districts, are thus given a hand up. Georgetown, however, will do it upon the color of a student's skin, regardless of his or her current circumstances.  And they're taking other measures to salve their conscience in that

administrators also announced on Wednesday that the school will erect a memorial to honor the slaves who built the school and publicly apologize for its involvement in the slave trade. One of the buildings that was formerly dedicated to a slave master will be renamed after a slave, and a second will be renamed after a prominent black educator. And the school will open a designated institute for people to study slavery.

If slavery isn't already part of the history curriculum at Georgetown University, the school's students are being very poorly served, indeed.   Evidently, the Jesuits were prompted in their actions because

The changes come nearly one year after hundreds of students rallied on campus and staged a sit-in outside President John J. DeGioia’s office, calling on the school’s leader to address racism on campus. The hostile environment, they argued, was a direct product of Georgetown’s historic ties to slavery.

There is no mention of what the "hostile environment" constituted or who was responsible for it. There is no need for that, evidently, and no need to assess responsibility.  Apparently there is a sordid history attached:

Not only did slaves build the Jesuit school, but the priests who ran it also sold 272 of them — including children — to Maryland and Louisiana plantations, in order to pay off the institution’s debts.

These student activists already successfully fought for slave owners’ names to be removed from campus. But now, the school is going even further.

Of course they aren't emphasizing eliminating the honor granted the individuals responsible for the institution's connection to slavery, which would be actually holding people accountable (albeit after death) and sending an important message.  Instead

Before student activism drew national attention to the school last November, DeGioia created the Working Group on Slavery, Memory and Reconciliation to devise meaningful ways for Georgetown to atone for its past sins. The working group — a handpicked group of students, faculty, and alumni — was integral in coming up with the action plan announced on Wednesday.

Now that's a  working group which will carefully assess facts, rationally assess pros and cons, and devise a wise solution.  And I am the King of Jordan.

In related news, full-time tuition, exclusive of any other costs, at Georgetown University has increased by $3,768 in the past two years to a mere $49,968,  We await the intstitution's statement explaining how its dandy new institute will decrease student costs or student debt.




                                              HAPPY LABOR DAY





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No Path To Indentured Servitude

Wind up a Republican, ask him or her an uncomfortable question, and you'll get p. 17 of the GOP manual. And so it was that Eric Trump was asked on Fox and Friends by Brian Kilmeade  "...two things happened after the last twenty-four hours, Jacob Monty and Alfonso Aguilar, two guys that are members of your Hispanic Council have said, 'I don't like the speech, I'm resigning.' What's the story there?"

Luckily for the Clinton campaign, young Mr. Trump opted for page 17 rather than burnish the Trump campaign's arguable credentials as populist and concerned about the working man, or at least the white working man.  He responded

I think it took tremendous leadership to go down to Mexico and meet with the president, but when you saw the meeting, the president of Mexico even said it was a two-way-street. I was really proud of my father and I think they left it in a very good way... and then the leftist media obviously spins it, etc, etc., but it was clear from both leaders that a border is necessary for the protection of their own country.

The most memorable quote from Donald Grump's Phoenix speech was "And Mexico will pay for the wall. One hundred percent. They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for it."   It is what he began his primary campaign with, what he emphasized during the primary season, and the one thing he cannot drop without losing a significant chunk of his base.  And as something the moderate right realizes will never happen, it's relatively cost-free.

Yet, on Wednesday Trump did invoke the word "jobs" thirteen times, as in

But if we're going to make our immigration system work, then we have to be prepared to talk honestly and without fear about these important and very sensitive issues. For instance, we have to listen to the concerns that working people, our forgotten working people, have over the record pace of immigration and it's impact on their jobs, wages, housing, schools, tax bills and general living conditions.

This was a smart move, however much it may have confounded Kellyanne Fitzpatrick Conway, movement conservative turned pollster turned co-campaign manager.  The classic right, fond of the downward effect immigration reform may have on jobs and  wages, is wary of immigration instead because it brings into the country potential Democrats, including individuals who may want to avail themselves of the social  safety net.

And so a confused Crooks and Liars blogger recognizes that Eric Trump is wrong, that Jacob Monty and Alfonso Aguilar left Trump's Hispanic Council not "because they watched Rachel Maddow or read NY Times article after Donald's horrific speech, it was because they listened to what he said."   Unfortunately, he added "Drugs, guns, and borders wasn't what angered them, but his father's refusal to be more humane. It's about the David Duke style ideas that have colored Trump's immigration plans."

Certainly Monty appears unmoved by proliferation of drugs and guns.  Neither, however, is he appalled by Trump's "refusal to be more humane."   Rather, in a Facebook post (emphasis his) he remarked in part

I gave Donald TRUMP a plan that would improve border security, remove hardened criminals, and most importantly give work authority to the millions of honest, hardworking immigrants in the U.S.

Monty feels wounded because Trump ignored much of his advice- and especially that he did not offer a road to legalization without citizenship, a chance for illegal immigrants to work for businessmen at substandard wages with few if any benefits. If not convinced, consider that he comlained to Ari Melber Thursday evening on Hardball without Chris Matthews

And what did he give us? Just more populist propaganda that wasn`t even written by his campaign, but was copied from FAIR and Numbers USA.

So, yes, I was disappointed, because I had the – I guess the naivete to believe that this guy was a businessman, that this guy was a Republican. And we didn`t hear a Republican last night. We heard a populist propaganda con artist. And I`m done with it.

If Hillary Clinton has any luck, Donald Trump will blame the media as son Eric suggests and chuck his quasi-populist message, reverting rhetorically to the pro-business, anti-worker message we've come to know and expect from Republican presidential candidates.  Maybe he can keep the likes of Conway and Monty happy and throw in a thing or two about 47% of the American people being lazy.


















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The Bar Set At Sea Level

The bar has been set so low it's almost underground.

Charlie Pierce has dubbed Politico "Tiger Beat on the Potomac" because it "manages on a regular basis to cover the worst of our politics through the worst of our political journalism."

It should be no surprise, then, that many months ago it assembled "The POLITICO Caucus-  a panel of activists, operatives and strategists in 11 key battleground states" to tell us what to think.

Today's takeaway of the Trump moment in Mexico City is "a majority of Republicans" believes "Trump appeared presidential and diplomatic in the foreign capital."    One Republican from Pennsylvania remarked “Trump finally looked presidential, calm and assured. The voters he needs to win dislike him not on message, but on his approach and demeanor; Mexico and Phoenix will start to allay their concerns."

For the GOP nominee for President, it is now a qualifying attribute for leader of the Free World that he not always appear as if his head is about to explode and he is not preposterously offensive to a wide swath of individuals.

Still, looks can be deceiving. Nonetheless, at a news conference after the meeting Trump stated "Who pays for the wall." Responding, President Enrique Pena Nieta tweeted "I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall."

This is not a case of "he said, she said" (an awful saying, derived from "he said, she said"). Nor did Trump lie; it's unlikely they discussed the wall.  Pena Nieto said Mexican payment is a non-starter, and Trump obliged.   A fellow with a 23% rating in his own country immediately stands up to the self-promoted tough guy who, in Antonio Villaraigosa's words, "comes out barking like a pit bull, goes down to Mexico and turns into a Chihuahua.”

But Trump's statement on the podium with Pena Nieto gives us a flavor of what happened in the meeting.  Rapists, drug dealers, and assorted criminals were a thing of the past now that

the United States first, second and third generation Mexicans are just beyond reproach. Spectacular, spectacular hard-working people. I have such great respect for them and their strong values of family, faith and community.

Trump excoriates the North American Free Trade Agreement is the "worst trade  deal in history," compains the nation "become more dependent on foreign countries than ever before,".and implores us to "declare our economic independence once again." We now find the "America First" candidate wants merely to tweak the agreement, now that he has

shared my strong view that NAFTA has been a far greater benefit to Mexico than it has been to the United States and that it must be improved upon to make sure that workers, and so important, in both countries benefit from fair and reciprocal trade.

The once- anti- NAFTA crusader expressed mainstream views that could have come from Hillary Clinton or Bill Clinton, the latter a signatory to the NAFTA after he secured enviromental and labor concessions. Trump maintained the two nations have many "shared goals' and "a common interest in keeping our hemisphere safe, prosperous and free."

"A picture is worth a thousand words." it is said. Sometimes those pictures are misleading. But Donald Trump is adamant that  "Mexico will pay for the wall- believe me," frequently pokes his finger to make a point while he plays the alpha dog before every audience and calls his opponents "little Marco," "lying Ted," "low-energy" JEB, and "corrupt Hillary."

Then he faces a head of state, shuts his mouth about his "big, beautiful wall," and looks like he he got his rear end whipped (photo from Rodrigo Cruz for The New York Times).  And the political media says he "looked presidential." What  would it  take for him not to look presidential?

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Donald Churchill, Indeed

After Donald Trump last week expressed apparent reluctance to deport illegal immigrants, he was slammed by Ann Coulter, about whom I then remarked "isn't right twice a day, and is often bombastic and offensive. Nonetheless, once a decade or so she makes a valid point other conservatives bypass."

Responding to Donald Trump's rally speech on immigration Wednesday night, Coulter made me look foolish when she tweeted "I hear Churchill had a nice turn of phrase, but Trump's immigration speech is the most magnificent speech ever given." (Perhaps she's given to hyperbole.)

So much for "four score and seven years ago," "How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,"  and "let them come to Berlin." Even more substantively, there was "the time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights." And that is only among American speakers, and a rigidly abridged list. Your mileage may vary.

Trump's speech was a fairly deft mixture of bluff, bluster, and bellicosity.  But it was also, at times, internally inconsistent.

"Hillary Clinton," he claimed "has pledged amnesty in her first 100 days, and her plan will provide Obamacare, Social Security, and Medicare for illegal immigrants, breaking the federal budget." That would be true were Hillary Clinton to have advocated amnesty, Social Security and Medicare for illegal immigrants, and a plan which would break the federal budget, in his telling more costly than a wall costing tens of billions of dollars.







That was, however, only a Trumpian-style case of distortion, manipulation, and rank dishonesty. Less obvious was the catch made from the speech, annotated, by Washington Post reporter Philip Bump, who should be an argument for the care and maintenance of the oft-derided "dead tree" media.  "Under my administration," Trump contended, "anyone who illegally crosses the border will be detained until they are removed out of our country and back to the country from which they came."

How, more observant critics than I might have observed, is that even possible?  Bump himself asks "First of all, what about the wall?"

Trump sought to sell the idea that his "impenetrable physical wall" will prevent anyone from illegally crossing the border.  After all, "we will use the best technology, including above-and below-ground sensors, towers, aerial surveillance and manpower to supplement the wall, find and dilocate tunnels..."

There will be no one left who would illegally cross the border, he argues.  Of course, his pie in the sky, by and by, when you die scenario is fantasy.  The wall will not be built and, as Bump had explained in detail the day before, "the government has tried to rely on sensors to help protect the border in the past, without much success."

Donald Grump stated "What we do know, despite the total lack of media curiosity, is that Hillary Clinton promises a radical amnesty combined with a radical reduction in immigration enforcement." British wartime prime minister Winston Churchill once declared "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent." Oh sure, Ann, there is no difference.









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