What Romney “Saw”

There’s no question that George Romney was on the side of the angels in the civil rights movement, along with many other Republicans (back when the GOP wasn’t Dixie Central). There’s also no question in my mind that his son lied about what he "saw":

A spokesperson for Mitt Romney now tells the Boston Phoenix that George W. Romney and Martin Luther King Jr. marched together in June, 1963 — although possibly not on the same day or in the same city.

Romney, according to one piece of written source material provided by the campaign, made a “surprise” appearance at a small march in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, in late June — several days after King led a much larger march in Detroit. Romney spokesperson Eric Fehrnstrom suggests that these two were part of the same “series” of events, co-sponsored by King and the NAACP, and is thus consistent with Romney’s claim that “I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.”

There really is a character issue here. Romney is at almost Clinton levels of deception. He has become so used to trying to say what people want to hear that he has lost all touch with actual reality.

Unelectable Clinton

The argument seems to me to be over. On the simple basis of electability, Obama is far ahead of Clinton in facing off against eith Giuliani or Huckabee:

The poll shows Mr. Obama leading Mr. Giuliani (49 – 40) by a larger margin than Mrs. Clinton does (46 – 43) — a change from early November, when the data suggested they would both fare about the same against him. Against Mr. Huckabee, Mr. Obama leads by 48% to 36%, while Mrs. Clinton has a narrow 46% to 44% edge.

Her argument is now her likability? Or her experience as First Lady and in the Senate up against a community organizer, state legislator and first term US Senator? And she is almost a couple of decades older, of course. I really fail to see why she has any traction at all at this point. Sure, she’s very smart and very political. But if she hadn’t been married to a former president, I think she’d be regarded as a run-of-the-mill candidate in this race, solely interesting because of her gender: in the Chris Dodd mold without the sense of honor.

Why Time Was Right

I’m no fan of Vladimir Putin’s but it seems indisputable to me that he has restored Russia’s status as a serious regional power – and as a counter-weight to US influence in the world. The biggest story of this week may well turn out to be the following:

Iran on Wednesday touted this week’s delivery by Russia of fuel for its first nuclear reactor Putin_2 as a step in strengthening ties between the two countries and a sign of Moscow’s confidence that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful.

The shipment of the nuclear fuel, which arrived at Iran’s Bushehr power plant on Monday paved the way for the long-delayed startup of the 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor in 2008.

Iran is hoping the shipment signals Russian willingness to prevent the United Nations from imposing new sanctions against it over Tehran’s refusal to halt uranium enrichment, as sought by Washington. Russia is one of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

This is not necessarily Russia’s alliance with the most powerful member of the Axis of Evil. It could be spun as helping to remove the need for Iran’s uranium enrichment. But it seems equally clear to me that Putin is telling the West that Russia has the technology and the oil-money to rescue Iran if the US were to decide to take military action against its nuclear facilities. We live in a multi-polar world again. The next president will need to understand that, and adjust accordingly. Headline Junky notes:

The difference between Time’s gimmicky pick last year and their selection this year is sobering: viral videos on the one hand, ruthless realpolitik on the other. It’s almost as if the shock of 9/11 is beginning to wear off and, in looking around, America’s suddenly realizing that while we’ve been squandering our political capital, there are other countries out there who have been slowly but steadily building their’s up.

(Illustration: Noma Bar.)

A Proudly Atheist Politician

The new leader of the British Liberal Democrats:

New Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has answered "no" when asked on BBC radio if he believed in God. The rapid-fire question and answer format on 5 Live meant the 40-year-old did not have the chance to elaborate.

He’s bringing up his kids as Catholics though – his wife is one of us.

“We Have Not Lost”

A blogger responds to this:

So what would be a victory then? Maybe it would be something like weakening terror groups like Al-Qaida so badly that they cannot mount another major attack, and its few surviving elements remain in hiding and on the run. Which is, in fact, exactly what has happened. When Mr. Sullivan states "We have not stymied Islamist terror" I wonder if he would like to point out any attacks like the Cole bombing, Embassy bombings, or 9/11 that have occurred since the war on terror started.

Madrid, London, Bali and all over Iraq. But read the post.

Face of The Day

Goosecarsrtenkoallgetty

Seven year old Timo Borchardt eats a goose leg at the 13th annual Christmas Celebration for the Homeless at the Estrel convention center December 19, 2007 in Berlin, Germany. German singer Frank Zander founded the event, which offers an evening of performances, Christmas goose dinner and Christmas gifts for the German capital’s many homeless. Approximately 2,000 homeless and poor people attend the event. By Carsten Koall/Getty Images.