Richmond Times Dispatch Editorial Bd: Rupert Murdoch Wannabes?

It’s not a very well kept secret in journalism circles that the editorial board of the Richmond Times Dispatch is not entirely independent in their thinking. The RTD is free to endorse whomever they want in local and statewide campaigns but the owners at Media General demand that the RTD toe the GOP line when it comes to presidential politics. This is also the case at other Media General newspapers.

Maybe Marshall N. Morton, President and Chief Executive Officer at Media General think of himself as the Rupert Murdoch of Southern journalism. I don’t know.

Today’s editorial criticizing President Obama and his recent exchange with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is as good an example of any of the GOP double standard that the editorial board exhibits time after time.

Does anyone think the Richmond Times Dispatch would ever have editorialized against former President George W. Bush and his relationship with Saudi King Abdullah?

Remember, the House of Saud and the House of Bush go wayyyyyyy back.

Maybe next Sunday the RTD will write about, “the kiss.”

I’m not holding my breath.

Undermined Trust: Why Sanford Should Resign

When President Clinton admitted his affair with Monica Lewinsky, a backbencher Congressman remarked to CNN in 1999, ““If you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything.”

That Congressman represented Charleston, S.C. at the time. He went on to become the Governor of the Palmetto State. His name: Mark Sanford.

Obama’s Climate Change Win: Who Backed the President, Who Didn’t and Why

Yesterday evening, the House of Representatives passed an historic climate change bill which will reduce the level of greenhouse gases emitted in the U.S. over time by requiring polluting businesses to purchase credits to continue to pollute at current levels. Businesses who pollute less will be able to profit from selling the credits to businesses who aren’t willing to change their polluting ways.

The vote was close. 8 Republicans joined the Democratic leadership to pass the bill, while 44 Democrats joined Republicans in voting against the bill.

Why I am sympathetic to Mark Sanford

In last night’s post, I tried to explain why I am sympathetic to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and his family, but I did so inarticulately after a long day of work. Yes, I think he’s been a extraordinarily ineffective governor. (See his stimulus grandstanding and his numerous overidden vetos by a legislature controlled by his own party.)

For your consideration, I offer the sharper obserservations of Gary Kamiya of Salon, John Dickerson of Slate  and William Saletan also of Slate. All did a better job than I did.

My thanks and my questions for The State newspaper

The newspaper business is a dying one. We’ve seen the papers in Seattle and Denver shut down and thousands of journalists have been laid off this year as publishers struggle to retain subscribers and advertisers as the public moves to online sources for news.

In light of this, I think it’s impressive that The State newspaper, the largest in South Carolina, has led the country in breaking the news about Gov. Mark Sanford and his lies about his extramarital affair. The Columbia paper has beaten out national media and every other news outlet in the state in covering this story, reporting exclusive, after exclusive.

My thoughts on Mark Sanford

Today I watched Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina admit an extramarital affair in a rather painful news conference from Columbia. I am not a fan of the Governor and I never have been. I think he’s been one of the worst governors South Carolina has ever had.

That said, I am sad for Mrs. Sanford. Her statement issued today makes me believe she is an honorable person who is trying to do the right thing for her kids.

But as for Governor Sanford, it’s clear that he has bigger problems to deal with in his life than the problems of South Carolina. Given today’s revelations, I fail to see how he could be effective in the remainder of his term. If he lied to his family, his staff, the Lt. Governor, the legislator, indeed, the people of his state, how can he expect anyone to trust him?

He should resign for the sake of his children and what’s left of his marriage. The man is a multi-millionaire — he doesn’t need a job. What he needs to do is get his life back together.

I pray he will.

Meet Mark Sanford, the Flaky Governor of SC

And this dude is supposed to be a GOP candidate for president next time around? Yeah, righhhhhttttt.

Newt Gingrich undecided in Va. Governor’s race

Okay, okay. You don’t believe this headline, do you? (I don’t either.) But this is what Newt Gingrich, the discredited former GOP House Speaker, wants you to believe.

Yesterday, Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future sent a letter to Virginia gubernatorial candidates Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds seeking their support for Gingrich’s effort to defeat the  American Clean Energy & Security Act of 2009, better know as the Cap and Trade bill. The bill, which was authored by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee and may come to the full House floor as early as next week.

In this letter, American Solutions describes the bill as a “new and complex national energy tax system”  which would “dramatically raise taxes on every single citizen of Virginia and kill Virginia jobs.” 

Cue the scary music please.

Barack to Creigh: “I’ve got your back!”

President Obama using his Barack-Berry.

This afternoon, President Barack Obama sent an email to his supporters in Virginia asking them to back Sen. Creigh Deeds in his bid to become Governor of Virginia. President Obama wrote:

Katherine Harris calls Iranian election for Ahmadinejad

Former Congresswoman & Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris declared that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had carried Florida in Friday's election. Photo credit: UPI

June 14, 2009 — TEHRAN – Tonight former Florida Congresswoman and ex-Fla. Secretary of State Katherine Harris declared that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won re-election to another term as president of Iran in an election held Friday, beating back a challenge from reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. Although the results had been announced on Friday evening by Iranian authorities on Iranian State Television, according to Harris, her certification makes it official.

She made her announcement at a hastily called news conference at the Tehran Grand Hotel in Tehran’s central business district.

Frank Rich on Fox’s Shepard Smith

In his New York Times column this morning, Frank Rich writes about the how the right wing crazies are calling for the head of Shepard Smith at Fox News. Smith, who dared to take seriously the Fox News motto of “we report, you decide”, crossed the right wing nut jobs when he essentially called them that. Watch.

In my view, Rich nails it when he writes of the paranoid chapter of the right wing nut jobs:

What is this fury about? In his scant 145 days in office, the new president has not remotely matched the Bush record in deficit creation. Nor has he repealed the right to bear arms or exacerbated the wars he inherited. He has tried more than his predecessor ever did to reach across the aisle. But none of that seems to matter. A sizable minority of Americans is irrationally fearful of the fast-moving generational, cultural and racial turnover Obama embodies — indeed, of the 21st century itself. That minority is now getting angrier in inverse relationship to his popularity with the vast majority of the country. Change can be frightening and traumatic, especially if it’s not change you can believe in.

What I want to know is when are the Republican elected officials of this country going to denounce this kind of scary demogogery from its right wing. From what I can tell, the Republicans I watch most closely — those here in Virginia — are silent. Or worse, they endorse it in their own party chairman, Pat Mullins. (Exhibit A: Bob McDonnell, GOP nominee for Governor of Virginia.)

In my view, that’s a failure on their part. A failure to lead. Why am I not surprised?

Come clean Congressman Moran

Tonight the House Ethics Committee announced that it was conducting a preliminary inquiry into the now defunct PMA lobbying firm and its relationships with House lawmakers. The firm, which was founded by former Democratic staffers on the House Armed Services Committee was shuttered after the FBI raided its offices last year. Basically its employees stand accused of making PAC contributions to members of the Armed Services Committee in exchange for earmarked appropriations which benefited PMA’s clients in the defense industry.