The Incredible Erasable Candidate

The Etch-a-Sketch Candidate: "I can be whatever you want me to be."

The Romney campaign, as much as they are trying to retract the comment, told the truth two days ago: Everything that Romney has said or promised during the primary campaign has been complete and utter bullshit. Romney will flip from being a "severe conservative" to Mister Middle-of-the-Road. He'll get up and deny that he meant anything he said during the primary campaign and that, in the Fall, we can really trust him now.

It's a lesson he learned at Bain Capital, when his job was to lie like a patent-medicine salesman to get the shareholders of a company to agree to being taken over. Romney and his boys at Bain would proclaim how they valued the company, what it did and they'd only make it better. But then, as we all know, they'd load up the company with debt and then loot the company, leaving people out of work, factories shuttered and towns devastated. All the while, the Bain boys laughed all the way to their vacation houses in the Hamptons and in Vail.

Republicans are being fools if they think they can believe or rely on anything that Romney says. I won't say that they are "being fooled", for there is abundant evidence that Romney believes nothing other than he should be in charge.

Use of Force and Trayvon Martin

I kind of think that George Zimmerman is going to be cooked for murdering Trayvon Martin.

Generally, the law does not reward people who act with unclean hands. What that means is that you cannot, as the saying goes, murder your parents and then ask for mercy because you are an orphan. The "stand your ground" laws were enacted to remove the requirement that victims of a crime have to try to outrun their attackers before defending themselves.

Stand your ground laws do not, or should not, give aggressors an out. You don't get to start a fight and then claim self-defense. Of course, that determination requires that there be a living witness, for absent bullet wounds in the back, the dead guy isn't going to testify.

Stand your ground laws should not be used by some crazy-ass police-wannabee who fancies himself as some sort of vigilante. The role of Neighborhood Watch is to observe and report suspicious activity to the cops. They are not supposed to jump out of their cars and confront people who are just perambulating down the sidewalk.

Under a stand your ground law, Martin would have been justified for killing Zimmerman, who was allegedly using force against Zimmerman. Martin came to the fight with clean hands, he was not committing a crime and, to be frank about it, the reason he was stopped and shot by Zimmerman was for "walking while Black." Zimmerman, on the other hand, was by stopping and confronting Martin, arguably committing a crime of false arrest or false imprisonment. He was not, in my view, privileged to use force.

I submit that if Martin had killed Zimmerman, that Martin would have been arrested.

But Zimmerman is walking around free. I don't think that state of affairs will be permitted to stand for much longer.

Will the Etch A Sketch haunt Mitt Romney?

We think we get what Mitt Romney's senior advisor meant yesterday when he compared the transition from primary to general election to an Etch A Sketch.

Paul Fehrnstrom, in answering a question on CNN about Romney hurting himself with moderates by taking conservative positions during the primaries, seemed to be trying to say that dynamics naturally change in a general election. Different issues take prominence. Candidates draw different contrasts with each other. It's a wholly different campaign to prepare for.

All that is true. But here are the words Fehrnstrom used those conservative primary positions: "I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes ... It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again."

Well. Republican candidates dutifully pounced on this apparent affirmation of Romney's flip-floppedness. Rick Santorum shook an Etch A Sketch and mocked Romney at a Louisiana rally. Newt Gingrich, also in Louisiana, handed one to a child at a rally and said "She could now be a presidential candidate."

Democrats, of course, were gleeful. Republicans were troubled, including Rush Limbaugh, who wondered if the Etch A Sketch remark was a message that "We'll do the right things to get the moderates."

But will the gaffe do any damage? In the short term, probably not. Democrats and Obama supporters have made their point with it, and Santorum and Gingrich will carry Etch A Sketches around for a couple of days, to no avail. Republican voters have already considered Romney's reputation for shape-shifting, and they've settled with the inevitability of his nomination. Etch A Sketch doesn't break any new storylines - it's just a colorful illustration of the suspicions some already have.

Come summer and fall, however, Democrats will be warning moderates that they don't know which Mitt Romney they'd get as president - a theme they've already hammered - and the Etch A Sketch could provide a handy reminder of that. Voters like narratives they can visualize - George H.W. Bush at the supermarket scanner - and the Democrats just got one that will be hard to shake away.

What others are saying:

ABC News' The Note says it's a mess for Romney.

The Wall Street Journal says the gaffe has shaken Romney's camp.

Red State says conservatives should embrace Romney's malleability.

Peter St. Onge

More Traveling Thoughts

What sort of fool would drive a Smart car on an interstate highway, where the speed limit is 70 MPH and where traffic is moving along closer to 80? That damned motorized grocery wagon was effectively a moving lane-blocker, until the day comes when someone smashes over it and transforms the car into a speed bump.

A loaded-up Prius climbing a hill is not much peppier than a Smart car. But they seem to be driven by morons with left-lane blocking permits. One was followed so closely by a rusted Ford F-250 that you might have been able to slide a credit card between the bumpers. Took a while for the Prius driver to notice that all he could see in his rear-view mirror was a truck's grille.

I did not see a single truck on I-70 in Illinois that was exceeding the speed limit. On the other hand, trucks in Connecticut routinely push it up near 80 MPH on I-84 and I-95.

This cross was erected at the intersection of I-70 and I-57.

Feelings of inadequacy, maybe?

Connecticut built a third slow-vehicle lane on every little pissant grade along I-84. Pennsylvania couldn't be bothered to do the same along I-80, except for one grade eastbound in the Alleghenies.

Sunrise along I-80 in Pennsylvania:

Postscript: I was on the road normally well before sunrise. I noticed that on the intercity parts of the interstates, there were no trucks on the road. The rest stops were jammed with parked trucks. They were emptying out by eight in the morning and soon after that, the rest stops were mostly used by tourists who needed the break.

Freedom Fries? Uncle Chang? Walter, please

The blogosphere is lighting up with a slur or slang our own U.S. Rep. Walter Jones used Tuesday at a House Armed Services Committee hearing. Republican Jones got so bent out of shape about the prolonged war in Afghanistan that he referred to the Chinese, who is said is "lending us the money that we're spending on Afghanistan", as "Uncle Chang."
It sounds like a slur and as the reminiscent feel of derogatory and demeaning language once used to belittle minorities in this country. But some folks said they'd give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was trying to make a parallel to to the United States as "Uncle Sam". Uncle Sam? Uncle Chang? Ummm.
You might remember Jones from another dustup when he got mad at the French, who opposed the invasion of Iraq after 9-11. He proposed renaming French fries as Freedom Fries in the House cafeteria. Yeah, that Walter Jones.
Well, whatever Jones meant with his label for the Chinese, here's some advice: Don't use the phrase again. It's subject to way too much misinterpretation. Members of Congress should be more circumspect.

A Bush for Romney
OK. So, now Jeb Bush has thrown his full weight behind Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential race. Chris Cillizza writes in the Washington Post on why it really matters and how that announcement today fits into his "endorsement hierarchy." Well, if the party can't get another Bush to run, the endorsement of the Bush they wanted to run should matter. But Alex Roarty of the National Journal writes that the endorsement won't make Rick Santorum cry uncle and end his campaign. But it does make the Lousiana primary and a big Santorum win there critical.

Romney's Latino problem?
In today's paper, New York Times' columnist Frank Bruni tagged Rick Santorum as having a Catholic problem. Tim Egan also of the New York Times weighed in again on the issue, factoring in last night's Illinois Catholic vote too. The Catholic vote is still going primarily to Mormon Mitt Romney over devout Catholic Rick Santorum. Egan calls them the commonsense Catholics.

But does Romney have a Latino problem?

That's the word from the liberal leaning Daily Kos, quoting of all things, a recent poll by Fox News. "The latest data on Latino voter preferences, commissioned by Fox News no less, shows that Republicans are getting absolutely crushed among Latinos," said the Kos' Markos Moulitsas.
"Among the findings, 69.5 percent consider themselves Democrats or lean that way, while just 15.9 percent consider themselves Republican or lean that way. Romney is so hated in the Latino community that he is actually underperforming among Latino Republicans! When the votes are counted, he will be lucky to clear 20 percent. THAT is how toxic the GOP and Romney are to Latinos right now."
The story touts five “Latino battleground” states - Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico - states with significant Latino populations. It also takes note of our own North Carolina and Virginia with Latino populations of about 8 percent which would have an impact. Kos doesn't include Florida because of the state’s heavily Cuban-American voting bloc which is more conservative.

“There's no way Republicans can suffer electoral swings of that magnitude and survive...I've given Romney every marginal state, including ones he clearly won't win like Wisconsin, and yet he still can't get to 270 votes if Latinos cost him every battleground state in which they are a factor," Markos writes.

"Bank it—Latino turnout will be higher this year than in 2008, and Democrats will fare dramatically better with them than in the past. The short-term prognosis for the GOP is difficult. But remember, this isn't just a short-term phenomenon. Latino growth continues unabated, so this will be an even bigger factor in future election cycles."

Posted by Fannie Flono

Romney getting some respect now? Yes and no

Good morning. Welcome to O-Pinion, the editorial board's online space for commentary and discussion. I'm associate editor Fannie Flono, your host today.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney keeps trying to lasso the Republican nod for president with primary wins. Yesterday, it was Illinois, where he swamped opponents Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul by getting 47 percent of the vote. He's not expected to do as well in Louisiana but some pundits are finally giving Mitt his due. Columnist Howard Fineman of the liberal Huffington Post called him the "best in a brutal business. Jay Cost of the conservative Weekly Standard also weighs in. The Standard's William Kristol was still "feeling blue" however over Romney as the choice.

Biden and his blarney
Vice President Joe Biden is always saying some crazy things. But Columnist Jason Linkins, editor of Eat Press, wasn't letting him get away with his absurd comment about that mission to raid Osama bin Laden's Abbotabad hideout which resulted in bin Laden's death: "You can go back 500 years. You cannot find a more audacious plan."
Linkins has some fun with that comment in a piece for the HuffPost.

The lowdown on N.C.'s integrity, and lack thereof
You might have missed the story about a nationwide analysis of "integrity" in state governments. Our story focused mostly on South Carolina and the five other states at the bottom of rankings in the study's "corruption risk" index. But North Carolinians need not get puffed up with pride about being tied for 19th best among the 50 states ranked. There's plenty to cover our faces in shame about.

In the report based on an 18-month investigation by the nonpartisan, good-government group the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity, North Carolina could only muster a C- overall grade. That's because our policymakers - on both sides of the political aisle - have stretched the limits of ethical conduct, and gone over the line more than once.

Of the incidents cited? A North Carolina legislator sponsored and voted on a bill to loosen regulations on billboard construction, even though he co-owned five billboards in the state. When the ethics commission reviewed the case, it found no conflict; after all, the panel reasoned, the legislation would benefit all billboard owners in the state – not just the lawmaker who pushed for the bill. The N.C. Report Card showed the state with F's in Public Access to Information, the state budget process and redistricting. It got D's in judicial accountability and legislative accountability. Argh.
Getting overall F's in this report in addition to South Carolina were Michigan, North Dakota, Maine, Virginia, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Georgia. Read more at this site.

Traveling Thoughts

Is there a reason why Sheraton hotels charge for Internet access, and yet it is free at Super 8 and Motel 6 hotels? Is the Internet at the Sheratons that much spiffier?

Do they hand out medals for drivers in eastern Indiana who sit in the left-hand lane of I-70 and block traffic?

Is there an unwritten rule among truckers that when one truck passes another on a two-lane interstate highway, it does so at a relative speed of two furlongs per fortnight? Do they get extra points for doing it three-abreast on a three-lane highway?

Folks, if you have local plates and you need to zip across four lanes in order to make your exit, you obviously were driving with your head up your ass and your mind in neutral. May your genitalia spontaneously ignite.

British Petroleum, we know already that you are evil. But when virtually every other gas station puts black handles on their gasoline pumps and yellow handles on their diesel pumps, what twisted fucker at BP thought it a good idea to reverse the scheme on their pumps? (At least the person who had pumped gas into the tank of their diesel Passat at a BP station in Ohio recognized that before starting their car.)