;)
The Commentariat -- Dec. 7, 2013
"In this week's address, President Obama shames the Party of Scrooge:
Gene Robinson makes a strong case for raising the minimum wage: "President Obama should specify a number --- at least $10 an hour -- and go out on one of his barnstorming tours. Democrats should make the issue a central theme of the 2014 campaign. I believe the public would respond, which means that, ultimately, Republicans would respond. The president has a long agenda. This is where he should start."
Charles Pierce has a fine tribute to Nelson Mandela. ...
... Peter Beinart in the Daily Beast: "In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan placed Mandela's African National Congress on America's official list of 'terrorist' groups. In 1985, then-Congressman Dick Cheney voted against a resolution urging that he be released from jail. In 2004, after Mandela criticized the Iraq War, an article in National Review said his 'vicious anti-Americanism and support for Saddam Hussein should come as no surprise, given his longstanding dedication to communism and praise for terrorists.' As late as 2008, the ANC remained on America's terrorism watch list, thus requiring the 89-year-old Mandela to receive a special waiver from the secretary of State to visit the U.S." ...
... Ta-Nehisi Coates of the Atlantic: "... William F. Buckley -- intellectual founder of the modern right -- effectively worked as a press agent for apartheid.... Apartheid would ultimately draw some of America's most celebrated conservatives into its orbit. The roster includes Grover Norquist, Jack Abramoff, Jesse Helms..., Jeff Flake..., Jerry Falwell ... [and] Pat Robertson.... When you see a Tea Party protestor waving the flag of slavery in front of the home of the first black president, understand that this instinct has been cultivated. It is still, at this very hour, being cultivated." ...
... Jamelle Bouie of the Daily Beast: "In 1985, William F. Buckley Jr. voiced his support for South African President P.W. Botha.... In the same column, he declared, 'Where Mandela belongs, in his current frame of mind, is precisely where he is: in jail.' ... You can find George Will writing in opposition to sanctions and Jerry Falwell leading a 'reinvestment' drive to counter the push to divest assets from South Africa. The conservative movement was so invested in opposition to Mandela that decades later it has become a problem for the latest GOP generation, which represents a constituency that still hates Mandela.... To wit, when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) paid tribute to Mandela on his Facebook page, he was met with a stream of angry condemnations." ...
... ** Adam Serwer of NBC News: "... Remember that sometimes the radicals are correct, that in the heat of the moment, movements for justice can be easily caricatured by those with authority as threats to public safety, and those seeking basic rights and dignity as monstrous villains. And then after the radicals win, we try to make them safe and useless to future radicals by pretending our beloved secular saints were never radical at all." ...
Rick Santorum -- Still an Ignoramus
He was fighting against some great injustice, and I would make the argument that we have a great injustice going on right now in this country with an ever-increasing size of government that is taking over and controlling people's lives -- and Obamacare is front and center in that. -- Rick Santorum, on Mandela ...
Mandela enshrined in the new South African constitution a fundamental right to health care for all citizens, and introduced a government-funded public health care system to help cover those who could not afford the private system already in place. That was the foundation for a new universal health care system the country unveiled two years ago, which is now expanding to cover the entire country by 2026. -- Adam Peck, Think Progress
... Igor Volsky & Zack Beauchamp of Think Progress provide a timeline of how the right campaigned to undermine Mandela. And, yeah, some of those apartheidchiks are still "representing" us. ...
... Very late last night I caught a bit of a BBC conversation (they do this a lot on this show) wherein they said that Raygun said that one of the reasons he supported the white guys running the place (my words) was because they were our friends and supported us during WWII. The BBC guys said Raygun, of course, was wrong. Those white guys had been collaborators. I'm gonna try to find something on this so Marie doesn't get mad at me. -- Haley Simon, in yesterday's Comments
Mr. Botha sided with the [Nazis], joining the right-wing Afrikaner nationalists in the Ossewabrandwag, or Ox Wagon Fire Guard, which was closely related to Daniel F. Malan's Reunited National Party. A paramilitary group within the Guard, modeled after the Nazi Brownshirts, agitated against the pro-Allied government of Jan Christian Smuts." Some time later, "Mr. Botha publicly condemned the Ossewabrandwag" but he remained active in the party that sided with the Nazis till 1944. -- Joseph Gregory, New York Times obituary of P. W. Botha, 2006
Despite a growing international movement to topple apartheid in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan maintained a close alliance with a South African government [led by P. W. Botha] that was showing no signs of serious reform. And the Reagan administration demonized opponents of apartheid, most notably the African National Congress, as dangerous and pro-communist. Reagan even vetoed a bill to impose sanctions on South Africa, only to be overruled by Congress. -- Justin Elliott in Salon, 2011
Can we abandon a country that has stood beside us in every war we've ever fought, a country that strategically is essential to the free world in its production of minerals we all must have and so forth? I just feel that, myself, that here, if we're going to sit down at a table and negotiate with the Russians, surely we can keep the door open and continue to negotiate with a friendly nation like South Africa. -- Ronald Reagan, speaking in support of Botha's apartheid regime, 1981
Reagan said, you know, these people supported us in World War II. I said, Mr. President, your history is bad. These guys you're talking about -- the South African apartheid regime [which Botha led] -- most of them supported the Nazis. -- Bishop Desmond Tutu, on a private conversation he had with Reagan
Yeah, Haley, I did have to do some Googling on this, but I'm not mad. And the BBC commentator was right. -- Constant Weader
... Al Sharpton, Chris Matthews: F. W. De Klerk & other South African apartheid leaders were more patriotic than Mitch McConnell & the GOP are:
The New York Times Editors write
"Some Bankers Aren't too Big to Jail." Danielle Douglas of the Washington Post: "Since 2008, the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program [SIGTARP] has pursued criminal charges against 107 senior bank officers, most of whom have been sentenced to prison. Created to supervise the government bailout of the auto and financial industries, the agency has found dozens of cases of bank executives who misused bailout funds. SIGTARP has a staff of 170, a budget of $41 million and an enforcement track record that rivals agencies twice its size. The agency's work has resulted in $4.7 billion in restitution paid to the government and victims. Lawmakers are holding SIGTARP up as a model and questioning why other agencies are not producing similar results." Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times profiles Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). John Wagner & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "The Maryland official who directly oversaw the rollout of Maryland's health insurance exchange resigned Friday amid continuing technical problems that have hampered the state's online enrollment efforts. After an emergency session Friday night, the board of the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange accepted the resignation of Rebecca Pearce, its executive director, and thanked her in a statement for working 'tirelessly and with tremendous dedication' for more than two years." ... ... Jonathan Cohn of the New Republic: "The ObamaCare error rate has fallen dramatically." ... ... CW: Yesterday, I linked to a piece by a right-wing writer named Peter Schweitzer who claimed -- based on White House logs & Politico's daily calendar -- that President Obama had no one-on-one meetings with HHS Secretary Sebelius between July 12, 2010, & November 30, 2013. ... ... BUT. Dylan Byers of Politico: "The White House on Friday criticized as misleading a report in Politico Magazine claiming that President Barack Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius met just once since the signing of the Affordable Care Act more than three years ago. 'The published report that was written by an advocate is based on a ridiculously false premise,' White House press secretary Jay Carney said during a press briefing. 'Cabinet secretaries don't regularly get entered into the White House visitors logs, [though] they come frequently. Kathleen Sebelius comes frequently, and she meets frequently with the president.'" Senate Races Scott Brown, a potential GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate in New Hampshire, who has also explored a presidential run, briefly confuses New Hampshire with Massachusetts, which he did serve as Senator. Via Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: Don't worry, Senator; it happens to all the best presidential candidates: Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican who was first elected to the Senate in 1978, set up a generational and ideological clash in the state's Republican primary when he announced Friday that he would seek a seventh term in 2014.... While Mr. Cochran, who turns 76 on Saturday, has the support of many leading Republicans in the state, he is already facing opposition from Chris McDaniel, 41, a state senator aligned with the Tea Party...." CW: Yes, because a guy who voted to support the South African apartheid regime, even as most Senators from his own party voted to impose sanctions against the racist South African government, is totally too liberal for Mississippi. News Ledes AP: "About 50 survivors of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor paused Saturday at the site to honor those killed and remember the moment that plunged the U.S. into World War II." New York Times: Merrill Newman, "an American veteran who had been held prisoner in North Korea for more than a month, landed in the United States on Saturday after his release by the government, which cited his 'sincere repentance' for his acts during the Korean War as the reason for letting him go." New York Times: "Flying aboard a nondescript Air Force cargo plane under the cloak of secrecy, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel landed [Afghanistan] on Saturday.... Mr. Hagel was scheduled to meet with American commanders to discuss the status of the war, with troops to offer holiday greetings and with Afghan officials to see if he could press for a breakthrough in finalizing a bilateral security agreement."
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Reader Comments (13)
Re: tis the season
Time for this commenter to dine on crow. It seems that (I kinda don't get it. Say what you will about the likes of me) I touched a Jesus nerve. Technically, at the very least, because the words (my posts) are there in the record. I can't say if there are other examples to be made, but I am sure that I am one. The suggestion of Christian proselytizing is so alien to me, that I hardly know what to say, except emphatically, not guilty. I apologize, in full, to the RC commentariat and all onlookers, for any disrespectful, presumptuous, or ignorant behavior in evidence, attributable to this commenter.
I can only deduce that my posts have been improperly structured and I have been too free in my comments. Back to the drawing board.
Best to all in the struggle. Keep up the great work.
Charles Pierce's tribute to Mandela made me weep! Especially the quote from GB Shaw about the death of Michael Collins in 1922:
.." So tear up your mourning and hang up your brightest colours in his honour; and let us all "be satisfied" that he did not die in a snuffy bed of a trumpery cough, weakened by age, and saddened by the disappointments that would have attended his work had he lived.
-- George Bernard Shaw to Hannie Collins upon the death of Michael Collins, August 25, 1922.
Some of you may notice that I substituted "be satisfied" for "praise God." I know GB Shaw would not object, and I just cannot, include in good conscience include part of a quote which "praises God," who had nothing to do with Michael Collins' meaningful death.
I have had the thought that Obama, who says Mandela was the primary influence in his life and political career, mistakenly thought that his (Obama's) paen to "One America--neither Red State nor Blue State, but the United States of America" was a conscious, but unsuccessful attempt to call forth the better angels he called forth from listening to Nelson Mandela. Different situation. Different times. Less public preparation. And Blacks are still a minority in the US of A--unlike in Mandela's South Africa. Also, Mandela was truly a man of the people and "walked the walk!" Obama, so far, has mainly "talked the talk." I do not mean this as criticism--just an observation. I still admire Obama and hope he will make an attempt to "walk the walk" in his last 3 years. I am not hopeful, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt.
P.S. @Todd-I must say that I have no idea what you are talking about in your comments. I am sure you have deep and important thoughts to relate, but my 74 year old mind simply cannot grasp them. I will try harder, but don't bet on me!
@Kate Madison: I had exactly the same reaction to Pierce's eulogy as you did, & I was right impressed by the Shaw citation, which well might have been written for Mandela.
Your observation about Obama's optimism is brilliant. As to why he can't do more than talk the talk -- & until this past week he has too seldom done even that -- I think Al Sharpton got it exactly right (see videos above): the South African leaders of the white minority put country before self-interest & tried to help Mandela's government work; our white minority; i.e., Republicans, have done nothing but sabotage the government ever since Obama became president. They were almost as bad during Clinton's presidency. Obstruct, repeal, impeach. Those are their only "policies."
Marie
@Kate: Very much approve of your inserting "be satisfied" –––perfect. I once had a neighbor who after many indiscretions found Jesus and within her conversations would insert the "praise Jesus" mantra which irritated me no end. One day I inserted my own, "hail Caesar" while conversing with her–––it not only shut her up, but she accused me of being rude. We spoke rarely after that which suited me just fine.
I remember thinking at the time of Obama's fledging appearance at the Democratic convention that his utopian no red state, blue state business was way out of left field, but the crowd loved it and I wondered how long it would take him to realize how wrong he was.
@Todd: you seem to be apologizing for something on a religious vein, but can't figure out what it is. Don't recall anything you posted that would fit your regrets.
@Todd: ??? What are you driving at, or At what are driving? I also have a 74-year-old brain, like Kate.
Re: Mandela: The US supports another regime that's working toward defacto apartheid: Israel. I'm looking at you, Chuck Schumer, among others. As far as I know, South Africa never had nukes, not they didn't try to get them, but Israel has them. What good they would be for Israel is beyond me. (See my first graf.) They go on building settlements on stolen land while we say little or nothing. Our country has exported murderous thugs known as "settlers" to occupy the settlements.
I hear much bleating about others ignoring UN resolutions, but few about Israel ignoring them.
Reading the right wing comments about Mandela just exposes the fact that when someone or something good comes into the picture, they have to distort the truth. They just suck at it. Mandela was a communist. They have no clue what that word means. Mandela brought health care as a basic social right but does Rick Duhmoran know that? And socialism is a basic evil so we need to end our public education system (what that's socialist????).
The problem for America as Marie pointed out, the nation of the ignorant, such behavior is easy. Never forget the most significant statement ever made in America (no, not the Gettysburg address).
'Keep the government away from my Medicare!'
It's so easy for the right. I mean why all the talk about the death of a famous soccer player?
President Obama gave one of the most important speeches of his Presidency last week. It was mostly ignored by MSM and reverberated little in the stenographic press. This is not suprising because , as of late he seems willing to give a stirring speech at a supermarket opening. Every tool ,over used, becomes dull and looses some of it's effectiveness. I believe he is entering an area of speech fatigue by his audience. Truly great ideas get lost in the multitude of pronouncements.
This morning's tea leaf readings:
On Obama. I'm with Kate, too. Barack Obama is a truly remarkable man whom I'm sure feels a deep kinship with Mandela, but has the wit to know he lives and governs in a far different place and time. So far, we can all wish that he had accomplished more on our personal progressive agenda, but if politics is indeed the art of the possible and I believe it is, considering the circumstances he inherited he has done a lot, and now that he is in his last term I'm guessing, I'm hoping, not quite trusting, he will feel free to do even more.
Those circumstances, racism and personal animus aside, are dominated by a corporate culture that during his administration has spent billions to hinder or eliminate all government functions that do not regularly deposits large checks into corporate accounts. Any action that does not contribute to corporate profit is an enemy to be fought tooth and nail. The ACA's monstrous compromise is only one of the many things that reflect this maddening reality.
Since the late 1970's we have been fed a steady diet of mythology about the equivalence of private profit and personal fulfillment but the economic realities of most people lives in the last decade bring that tenet more and more into public question. Beginning in the last election cycle and ever more so in his second term, Obama is raising some of those questions himself, but in a nation where election and reelection is dependent on millions and billions in private money, while I still wish for more, the tentative nature of the Obama "rebellion" is understandable.
So far, it's also worth noting, the rebellion I see brewing on the Left has been non-violent, confined to words, inspired and informed perhaps by only the second half of the Mandela legacy, for many the far more easily digestible part.
On Todd or Todd 2.0 (are they brothers? or the same man?)
I've saved this one for a week or so, not wishing to offend, but I have to join this morning's chorus. Your epigrammatic phrasings are hard for me, too, to follow. Without clear connections between one thought and the next, the overall effect is runic, which may be what you are trying to achieve, but runes, remember, were not easy to translate or understand.
I must say I'm starting to feel like the old English teacher with the hated red pen, who meant well but knew his suggestions did not always hit the mark or find a receptive audience, but I do want you to know appreciate your company and your references. I just wish I could follow your thoughts more easily. A few clearly stated connections between them would really help...
Thanks for listening.
18 degrees of frost here but a beautiful morning in the Northwest. Off to check some more pipes...
...and just returned three hours later (now up to 28) and realized my brain apparently froze, too. Seems I hadn't sent this.
Poor Reagan probably mistook Botha for the South African politician who lead a Boer Commando against Britain in the Boer war and was made a Field Marshall who sat on Churchill's War Council during WW2, not realizing he was actually a pre-war member of the South African equivalent of the German-American Bundt. Certainly he would have been encouraged by Thatcher who never tired of lecturing our Prime Minister on the mistake of sanctions.
Life works in strange ways. Without a life sentence in a remote prison Mandela would undoubtedly have ended as just another corpse to be bulldozed into a mass grave after one of the apartheid government massacres or quietly assassinated by a government hit squad. He was a boxer, a fighter, not a Gandhi or King. Years of breaking rocks with a sledge hammer, each of those rocks no doubt an Afrikanner head, gave the master politician the space to develope a workable plan for a future South Africa. How fortunate he was to leave prison to face a Nationalist politician with whom he could actually negociate, de Klerke. It was fitting they received the Peace Prize together. de Klerke talking to Mandela must have been the equivalent of a President George Wallace negotiating with King for the end of the white supremacy that formed the bedrock of his world.
Regarding my post yesterday about a Reagan appointee's efforts towards South African unity: It was a first-hand account, but it is certainly possible that my source was shading things to suit history and the audience. The highlighted quotes above have a certain resonance with other things I have come to understand. AK's phrase may yet be true.
Meanwhile. At Pew Research it is announced that for the first (FIRST???) time ever, the bottom 90% earned less than 50% of the national income. This is reportedly of great concern to a few.
@Nisky Guy: I think if you read the pieces I linked in relation to Reagan's beliefs about Botha (esp. the one by Justin Elliott), you'll find that your acquaintance's assertions are almost certainly true. The administration was conflicted & explored various means -- what they called "constructive engagement" -- of dealing with the South African situation. Their public position was more consistent -- & hardly laudable -- and it tacked against the wind, but they were making other efforts.
Marie
Barbarossa, I completely agree with you regarding apartheid Israel (and the noxious Schumer) but disagree about our position on the settlements. I think they are often part of every attempt to get peace talks started and in fact we once did manage to get a six month "freeze". I'm not sure if Israel broke that particular agreement. Anyway, we can't stop the settlements because Israel knows we can't and we have no leverage. We can't sanction, we can't invade, we can't withhold foreign aid because of Congress, Republicans, AIPAC, Schumer, Liberman, evangelicals, and MSM. Heck, I doubt if we could even get ten Democrats to insist (though I have no idea of how they could "insist") that no more settlements be built.
It's a travesty.