Weak

The Romney Presidential campaign just had a high-profile resignation today, and one that should give them pause to make a fundamental change in his/their approach. But, having seen Willard kowtow to the rightwing Republican base thus far, he probably won't. As reported by Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post:

Richard Grenell, the openly gay spokesman recently hired to sharpen the foreign policy message of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, has resigned in the wake of a full-court press by anti-gay conservatives.

In a statement obtained by Right Turn, Grenell says:

I have decided to resign from the Romney campaign as the Foreign Policy and National Security Spokesman. While I welcomed the challenge to confront President Obama’s foreign policy failures and weak leadership on the world stage, my ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign. I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team.

According to sources familiar with the situation, Grenell decided to resign after being kept under wraps during a time when national security issues, including the president’s ad concerning Osama bin Laden, had emerged front and center in the campaign.

Most damning:

During the two weeks after Grenell’s hiring was announced the Romney campaign did not put Grenell out to comment on national security matters and did not use him on a press foreign policy conference call. Despite the controversy in new media and in conservative circles, there was no public statement of support for Grenell by the campaign and no supportive social conservatives were enlisted to calm the waters.

As I've written before, Romney is not a leader in the true sense. He appear incapable to taking a position unpopular to his base, making a convincing moral case, and either turning them around to his point of view or at least earning widespread respect for his rectitude. He's a loser, not a leader.

Per Josh Marshall, this is Romney playing into "bitch-slap politics" without the Obama campaign even having to try that hard:

The Obama campaign has spent days hammering the claim that Mitt lacked the fortitude to make the risky choice to launch a commando raid to kill Osama bin Laden. Either it was that he said it wasn’t sufficiently important or that he said he wouldn’t violate Pakistani sovereignty to launch such an attack. In either case, the core message was ‘I was right; he was wrong.’ But as I’ve argued, the ferocity of the attack itself was meant to diminish Romney as weak and helpless, a man unable to properly defend himself.

...

Against that backdrop, the sudden resignation of Romney’s new foreign policy spokesman Richard Grenell came at just the wrong time since it told just the same story about Romney as the Obama campaign has been telling all week: Romney is weak.

...

“It’s going to be difficult for Romney to take other steps like this. And that’s what’s really frightening to me,” Fred Karger, openly gay Republican candidate for president told TPM. “It’s just too tough to stand up to these groups because they have a lot of money and power. You’ve got to be able to do that, that’s leadership.”

...

In other words, Romney’s actions have spoken louder than his awkward replies to the original bin Laden smackdown. In the face of attacks meant to show he can’t stand up to Osama bin Laden, Romney shows he can’t stand down the far-right homophobes in his own party.

Or more simply, as Obama campaign's Stephanie Cutter tweeted out:

“How can voters trust Romney to stand up to the Soviets & Czechoslovakia if he's folding to rt wing on hiring gay staff?

Americans don't vote for weakies for President. There's still a canyon of time to fill between now and November 6th, so maybe Mitt can turn it around, but I believe this early imprinting is just the beginning of what's really going to fill the airwaves and, as I predicted months ago, Mitt Romney will make Bob Dole look like a winner.

Wild Fires

When they start burning books in America, it's time to shun or, where applicable, arrest the book burners:

The government turned up the pressure Tuesday on the head of a small Florida church who plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, warning him that doing so could endanger U.S. troops and Americans everywhere.

But the Rev. Terry Jones insisted he would go ahead with his plans, despite criticism from the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, the White House and the State Department, as well as a host of religious leaders.

Jones, who is known for posting signs proclaiming that Islam is the devil's religion, says the Constitution gives him the right to publicly set fire to the book that Muslims consider the word of God.

These American Taliban Christianists endanger national security and our soldiers abroad in the name of their own PR and, no doubt, donations from the hateful faithful.

Gen. David Petraeus warned Tuesday in an e-mail to The Associated Press that "images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence." It was a rare example of a military commander taking a position on a domestic political matter.

And at a time when fire is costing people their homes in Boulder, even wilder in Detroit.

Credit for GOPers

Two Republicans have shown themselves to be true Americans in the best sense of the word -- tolerant, sensible, respectful of the Constitution. One is 9/11 widower and former Bush Administration Solicitor General, Ted Olson, who also recently co-led the case against the heinous Prop 8 here in California, coming out in favor of what President Obama said regarding the Cordoba House near Ground Zero:

The other, and it ain't easy for me to give credit here but it is richly deserved, is MSNBC's Former GOP Congressman Joe Scarborough, who is not only pounding on Newt Gingrich for that parasite's demagoguery on the issue, but also has Pat - yes - Buchanan chiming in with him against the current Republican Tea Party line on the site:

Bravo, gents. You've both earned kudos in my book, and I'll have to go a little easier on Joe the next time he says something I disagree with.

Balls of Clay

The whole Cordoba House debate is designed to take your mind off of actual needs of the American people. It's kind of a stupid strategy on the part of the GOP since the economy is not recovering quickly enough, and if they had a real plan besides continuing the ruinous Bush tax cuts favoring the rich at the expense of the deficit, they'd be primed for traction on that. But since they have no plan, they'd rather distract from the actions that have been taken by serious-minded Democrats (agree with them or not).

So you have moronic ex-Governor Tim Pawlenty trying to negate his wussy personality by coming down hard on the Imam of Cordoba House and the government for using him n outreach to better U.S. relations with Muslims around the world. However, that began with his lecture to the FBI under the Bush Administration, so Tim is essentially slamming his own. Not that it matters in his Fox-ruled world. (And, ironically enough, Fox is actually partly owned by a Saudi prince who's family rules by the very Sharia Law it enjoys fanning fears of coming to the U.S.)

Can we all just call it what it is, a political football?:

Richard Hanna, the Republican congressional candidate in NY-24, was the rare Republican who supported the proposed Cordoba House plans. That is, until his Democratic opponent, incumbent Rep. Michael Arcuri, announced his own opposition to the "Ground Zero mosque."

Now, Hanna says that "building a mosque near Ground Zero is insensitive."

Maybe the most shameful such political tool since 9/11 was used by Bush/Cheney to sell the Iraq War to America? Even a politician not taking a side manages to use it for political points:

Politico reports that (New Jersey Gov. Chris) Christie (R) was speaking at a bill-singing in Trenton, and said "I understand acutely the pain and sorrow and upset of the family members who lost loved ones that day at the hands of radical Muslim extremists," but "it would be wrong to so overreact to that, that we paint Islam with a brush of radical Muslim extremists that just want to kill Americans because we are Americans."

He added that "what offends me the most about all this, is that it's being used as a political football by both parties."

"I don't believe that it would be responsible of me to get involved and comment on this any further because it just put me in the same political arena as all of them," Christie said.

But I reserve special contempt for the ex-President who has revealed his balls of clay today in the simplest terms possible (via TPM):

As the "mosque" debate boiled over this weekend the big question was whether George W. Bush was going to weigh in.

TPM asked, and the response from his spokesman today was simple:

"President Bush has no comment."

In addition:

Assistants for Karen Hughes and Condoleezza Rice declined to comment.

There you have it.

Statesmanship.

War Stories

So the post-Ft. Hood violent backlash against Muslims begins...even when they're not:

TAMPA — Marine reservist Jasen Bruce was getting clothes out of the trunk of his car Monday evening when a bearded man in a robe approached him.

That man, a Greek Orthodox priest named Father Alexios Marakis, speaks little English and was lost, police said. He wanted directions.

What the priest got instead, police say, was a tire iron to the head. Then he was chased for three blocks and pinned to the ground — as the Marine kept a 911 operator on the phone, saying he had captured a terrorist.

This on the same day that more Blackwater bad actions were revealed:

WASHINGTON — Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, according to former company officials.

Cash is king!

And, today, our President delivered a moving eulogy for the victims of the Ft. Hood attack, mentioning each one by name and telling something about their lives.

And "Taps" is the saddest song.

Last Man Standing

When I first arrived in Los Angeles in the early 1990's I went to one of those first-lesson-free nights of a stand-up comedy workshop. The coach was a funny enough woman, mid-40's, who asked all the new prospects to write down the name of their favorite comedian.

At first I found the question incredibly difficult. I've loved everyone from Richard Pryor to the Smothers Brothers to Jackie Gleason and George Carlin, even Totie Fields (anyone?). As a kid I enjoyed Alan King and Robert Klein as well, later Steve Martin, Mort Sahl, Dick Gregory...the list was broad, but no one who first came to mind seemed like "the one."

Then I remembered Rickles.

Having watched the John Landis-directed HBO special, Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project earlier this week, I've been scouring YouTube for both classic and recent clips. As said in the show, at 81 years old, Don Rickles is the last man standing from the Rat Pack era, the age of mob-controlled Vegas (and they were the better bosses, according to some of the interviewees), the time of a particular showbiz firmament that all seemed to revolve around the twin poles of Frank Sinatra and Johnny Carson. But of all the comedians of that era, Rickles was the one who was so obviously the least canned.

That made him special. Fueled by his coiled body of energy and brilliant playing with the line between funny insult and plainly offensive, he was known for his adlib abilities above all. He wasn't so much a stand-up act as maybe a stand-up act stripped of all jokes, save those directed at hecklers. It was as if Rickles decided not to wait for your heckles -- he just started laying into you pre-emptively.

By "you" I mean anyone in the audience lucky enough to be selected by him and highlighted for their ethnicity, physical appearance, or reaction to him. Or celebrity, which as the special explains became a right of passage; you hadn't really made it in Hollywood unless you were insulted by Rickles at one of his shows.

The special also reminded me how great a character actor Don was, with standout performances especially in armed forces roles, from Run Silent Run Deep (with Gable and Lancaster) to Kelly's Heroes (with Eastwood and Savalas, and where he met then-young gofer Landis). And there's a (typically) great interview with Toy Story director John Lasseter all about Don turning into Mr. Potatohead in their very first meeting. With the clip of him-as-toy saying, "What're you lookin' at, you hockey puck?" to what is revealed as an actual hockey puck. The ultimate tribute to his act.

But the best thing about the Landis doc is Don's act, shot back in March in Las Vegas. Sure, his body's spread out and he walks with a touch of that old guy stoop, he still has the ability to send an audience, and me on the couch, into paroxysms of laughter. Making fun of a Japanese American guy ("I spent three years in the jungle looking for your father.") or a heavy guy or just a guy who doesn't move his chair fast enough as Rickles nimbly navigates the audience, you can't imagine it'll really be funny, but there you are. Instead of being insultingly racist it comes off as satire of some prevalent attitude or stereotype that you realize Rickles in no way shares. It's the precursor to Borat, to Sarah Silverman, to the Andy Kaufman wrestling period, what back in it's day was the only comparable high-wire act at that level of show business success. And until the act gets to the more sentimental stuff about his life, towards the very end, Rickles never seems as old as he is. His secret really is his spontaneity -- and his speed. He's still as fast as a younger audience. We're still waiting for him to drop his next bombshell of insensitive irreverence.

When I revealed my choice to the comedy instructor, she greeted it with a sort of put-down, "you can't really mean that" reaction. As if, "Oh, really, you would name that man as your...favorite?" That was, of course, when she lost me as a student. My favorite comedian growing up, the only one who consistently lit up all of my bumpers, spinners and rollovers, was too transgressive for her.

There have been meaner comedians since then and maybe that's what different times call for, but as Rickles spells it out, he's never really mean because he doesn't mean a word of it. It's a neat trick of rhetoric -- there's the safety net of knowing Rickles offstage really is Mr. Warmth, but it's still biting enough to be funny.

It's Rickles exposing our prejudices to light baldly but stripped of preaching. As anyone knows who has ever tried to relate one of Rickles' bits to someone who didn't see it, maybe by trying to imitate Don's delivery, it's a fool's quest. You end up sounding like the hockey puck all alone in the room. It works because its him.

Here's to the last man standing. Buy his book, go see him on tour. As you realize when he goes over who's died on the photo wall in his study, it's shocking the guy is still alive. But he's never really lost his connection with the contemporary audience, never went out of style, he's not even in the kind of sea-change career comeback that George Burns had in his later years, after having been invisible for over a decade.

Rickles is still the real deal.

Most of all, Rickles is still funny.

Speaking Ill

There's that old saying about not speaking ill of the dead, which we've all violated at one time or another. I tend to agree with it, particularly when someone has just died, but while I'm not breaking out the champagne for the death this past week of Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell, it's just too hard to mourn this hatemonger.

In case you want to remember why the only tears for Rev. Falwell are among his flock and cohorts, here a list of "11 Sick Quotes of Jerry Falwell" from davefromqueens on DailyKos. While it's hard to pick a favorite, in the spirit of the Bush/Cheney/Rove/Giuliani constant self-justification through exploitation of 9/11, I'll go with #7:

The abortionists have got to bear some burden for [the attacks of Sept. 11]
because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent
babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists,
and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make
that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of
them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face
and say, 'You helped this happen.'

Ah, Jesus is Love.

For more check out Bill Maher from Friday night on HBO, who begins, "Death isn't always sad..." Not that I'd go as far as Maher, but although Falwell was avuncular in demeanor, a smiling, puffy, amiable-looking, his death is a reminder that hate comes in many packages.

I mean, for all his Christian cheer, he couldn't find a place in his heart for one particular beloved children's character.