SO WHERE WERE WE?

Oh yes. California Governor Gray Davis did his best to look menacing alongside the president yesterday. Today, he takes over the op-ed page of the New York Times (Jim Carville and Paul Begala had the day off) to whine yet again about how his state’s utility mess is someone else’s fault. Check out this interesting cover story in the current San Francisco Weekly, a liberal alternative weekly that is no sap to Republicans. What the story details is how California’s state bureaucracy negotiated contracts with the electricity companies that all but encouraged price gouging, that provided minimal protection against all sorts of obvious potential abuses of deregulation, and generally brought this whole steaming mess on itself. I must say the economics of electricity deregulation do not exactly set my brain-waves afire, but this was a fascinating piece. And damning for Governor Davis.

NO-ONE HAS PROVEN INTENT: Good piece in the Washington Post today about the incompetence of Florida’s attempt to clean up its voter rolls and remove convicted felons. It seems to me that this operation was clearly a scandal, disenfranchising many. But the Post ruins a good point by repeating the following mantra: “No one has proven intent to disenfranchise any group of voters, but the snafus have fueled a widespread perception among blacks that an effort was made to dilute their voting power…” So what? The issue is not what people perceive, it is what is true. Crediting some people’s perceptions, even when they may be completely wrong, is to engage in subjective fantasy. If the screw-ups were deliberate, then indeed righteous indignation is appropriate. If the screw-ups were accidental, then those responsible for the mess should be held accountable and changes made to make sure it doesn’t happen again – but at the same time, those engaging in conspiracy theories and paranoia should be debunked. The Post unwittingly lends credibility to this paranoia, while providing no reason to believe it’s justified. That isn’t reporting. It’s pandering.