Sunday Open Thread [3.23.14]

The always astute Paul Waldman takes to the pages of the WaPo today to diagnose what is wrong with the Sunday Yack Shows. The only reason to watch these shows is to get a handle on the news narrative that is being crafted for the upcoming week. Because the manipulation and laundering of talking points into the reporting narrative *is* what the much vaunted journalistic objectivity looks like from the political reporting machine. This really is a boring exercise — populated with the same old voices, arrayed in spectacularly silly ways — when did it get to be a thing to balance a panel of wingnuts with a journalist? And is there any reason at all for George Will or Peggy Noonan to be on TV still? I get that the Sunday Morning shows are basically Company Town TV, but you’d think that a Company Town with as much people churn as DC has would be able to reach out to more voices.

There’s a conceit about the Sunday shows, that they hold the powerful accountable. It’s where “newsmakers” come to be raked over the coals, unable to escape the probing queries of savvy and unrelenting interrogators. But it’s awfully hard to watch the shows and believe that’s true. What happens instead is that the powerful come on the shows, and the hosts try (and almost always fail) to trap them with various kinds of “gotcha” questions, which the powerful handle by returning again and again to their carefully planned messages. The result, even for those of us who love listening to and talking about politics and policy, is remarkably tedious.

Case in point — Rep. Mike Rogers who is the Chair of the House Intel Committee appeared on MTP this AM to call for sending small arms and communications equipment to the Ukraine. Really? Even though this is not our fight AND most Americans aren’t paying much attention to it, this guy gets a platform to rattle sabers (and I’m certain, not even get a question on how to pay for it).

Speaking of Ukraine, Mark Murowany (past City Dem Chair) has a piece in the NJ Editorial section on being clear about the realities in the ground in this region. What’s missing from this is a reminder of how the Russians lost the Cold War largely because they couldn’t keep up with the Reagan era arms race. An arms race that damn near bankrupted us. If Putin is taking up communities he can’t support, it is a matter of time for him to look for other options. And the immediate concerns in this conflict are for Europe — a Europe that has abdicated much of its own capabilities for defense to us. If I were one of the sabre-rattlers, I’d be hosting meetings between American arms manufacturers and European arms buyers. Let them get ready for any conflagration. Which I don’t think there will be.

And here is another Big Government idea from the so-called Party of Small Government — having a judge approve you having sex before your divorce is final. You read that right:

Ross’ bill seeks to amend Massachusetts divorce law with the following provision (emphasis added):

In divorce, separation, or 209A proceedings involving children and a marital home, the party remaining in the home shall not conduct a dating or sexual relationship within the home until a divorce is final and all financial and custody issues are resolved, unless the express permission is granted by the courts.

Right? The Party of Drown Government in a Bathtub wants to be able to subject the sex lives of divorcing people to the scrutiny of a judge. To be fair, this Massachusetts legislator has submitted this bill on behalf of a constituent — something he could have decided against if the small government principles meant something.

What interests you today?