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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 2015)
OPINION 4A T HE D AILY A STORIAN Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor Call off the Clintons’ dogs By MAUREEN DOWD New York Times News Service W ASHINGTON — I’ll pay for this column. The Rottweilers will be unleashed. CARL EARL, Systems Manager Once the Clintons had a War JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager Room. Now they have a Slime DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager Room. Once they SAMANTHA MCLAREN, Circulation Manager had the sly James Carville, fondly known as “serpent- head.” Now they have the slippery David t is good to hear that the Lower Columbia region’s Jewish Brock, accu- community is making plans for a new congregation after a rately known as Maureen a snake. half-century with no formal gathering. Dowd %URFN ¿WV into the Clinton There have been Jewish Creation of the Beit Salmon people here in the communities Congregation here, besides tradition of op- SRUWXQLVWLF NQLIH¿JKWHUV OLNH 'LFN of the Columbia estuary and generating a smile at the Morris and Mark Penn. surrounding beaches for a embedded nod to our region’s The silver-haired 52-year-old, who sports colorful designer suits long time, though obviously WRWHPLF ¿VK VWDQGV LQ SOHDVDQW and once wore a monocle, brawled never to the same extent as on FRQWUDVW WR KRUUL¿F HYHQWV his way into a Times article about the Eastern Seaboard or even in Paris and Copenhagen in the uneasy marriage between Hil- Portland. As with everyone else recent weeks that have included lary Clinton’s veteran attack dogs in the baby boom generation, targeted attacks on Jewish and the group of advisers who are over from Obamaland. nowadays some come to live people. This in turn sparked moving Hillary hasn’t announced a near the ocean and partake in controversial statements by 2016 campaign yet. She’s busy retirement living. Others carry Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin polling more than 200 policy ex- on entrepreneurial activities and Netanyahu urging Jews to make perts on how to show that she really cares about the poor while are deeply intertwined in coastal a “mass migration” from Europe courting the banks. Yet her shad- life: Sol Sharin of Long Beach, to Israel. ow campaign is already in a dé- Wash., springs to mind. He Especially in light of the jà-vu-all-over-again shark fight was a furniture dealer, exalted Holocaust a scant seven over control of the candidate and her money. It’s the same old story: ruler of the Long Beach Elks decades ago, the murders of The killer organization that, even and a generous contributor to Jews because of their religion with all its ruthless hired guns, countless good causes. or ethnicity provokes a visceral can’t quite shoot straight. Squabbling competing factions Astoria has had three notable repulsion among all good helped Hillary squander a quarter- Jewish mayors: Isaac Bergman, people. Part of this reaction of-a-billion dollars in 2008. As Nicholas Confessore and Herman Wise and Harry ought to include enthusiastic Amy Chozick chronicled, the nas- Steinbock. John Goodenberger endorsement of Jewish ty dispute spilled into public and wrote a cameo of Mayor Wise that people feeling comfortable Brock resigned last week from appears in Astorians: Eccentric and welcomed wherever they the board of a pro-Clinton super and Extraordinary. choose to live. It would be a PAC called Priorities USA Ac- Local Jewish people victory for hatred if too many tion — whose co-chairman is Jim Messina, Obama’s 2012 campaign WKHPVHOYHV DUH EHVW TXDOL¿HG feel compelled to relocate to manager — accusing the political to speak about whether they Israel. action committee of “an orchestrat- have encountered prejudice “If the way we deal with ed political hit job” and “the kind dirty trick I’ve witnessed in the or welcoming attitudes here. terror is to run somewhere else, of right-wing and would not tolerate Certainly the U.S. has been both we should all run to a deserted then.” He should know. a bastion of safety and a home to island,” Denmark’s chief rabbi The former “right-wing hit pernicious bias. But it is nice to said in the aftermath of the man,” and impresario of “dirty think that the West Coast is more Copenhagen murders. tricks,” as Brock has said of him- inclined to judge people on their The ancient traditions of self, made his living in the ’90s own merits and not because of Judaism will enrich the cultural sliming Anita Hill as “a little bit BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager Welcome, Beit Salmon I ridiculous historical stereotypes. fabric of the lower Columbia. THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2015 AP Photo/Jason DeCrow Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks after ac- cepting the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award during a ceremony, Dec. 16 in New York. Hillary is likely to raise, and more important, spend more than $1 billion on her campaign. nutty and a little bit slutty” and breaking the Troopergate sto- ry, which accused Arkansas state troopers of setting up liaisons for Bill Clinton and spurred Paula Jones’ 1994 sexual harassment lawsuit. He has tried to discredit any- one who disagreed with his ideo- logical hits (myself and reporters I know included). And that’s still the business he’s in, simply on the other side as a Hillary zealot. (His conversion began in 1996 when he published a biography of Hillary that was not a total hit job and that began the thaw.) Just as Bill Clinton was able to forgive another architect of the vast right-wing conspiracy, Rich- ard Mellon Scaife, once Scaife was charmed by Hillary in person and began giving money to the Clinton foundation, so, too, was Bill won over by Brock’s book, “Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative,” and Brock’s Media Matters and Correct the Re- cord websites, which ferociously push back against any Hillary cov- erage that isn’t fawning. With the understood blessing of the Clintons, Brock runs a $28 million cluster of media monitor- ing groups and oppo research orga- nizations that are vehicles to rebut and at times discredit and threaten anyone who casts a gimlet eye at Clinton Inc. As Confessore and Chozick wrote, he uses a fundraiser named 0DU\ 3DW %RQQHU ZKRVH ¿UP KDV collected millions of dollars in com- missions — a practice many fund- raising experts consider unethical. Everyone wants to be at the trough for this one because Hillary is likely to raise, and more import- ant, spend more than $1 billion on her campaign. The Clinton crowd is trying to woo Brock back into the fold be- cause he’s good at getting mon- ey and knows how their enemies think. The Clintons appreciate the fact that Brock, like Morris, is a take-no-prisoners type with the ethical compass of a jackal. Baked in the tactics of the right, Brock will never believe that negative coverage results from legitimate shortcomings. Instead, it’s all per- sonal, all false, and all a war. This is a bad harbinger for those who had hoped that Hillary would “kill off the wild dogs,” as one Obama loyalist put it, and Bill would leave behind the sketchy hangers-on in the mold of Ron Burkle and Jeffrey Epstein. Hillary’s inability to dispense with brass-knuckle, fanatical aco- lytes like Brock shows that she still has an insecure streak that requires Borgia-like blind loyalty, and can’t distinguish between the real vast right-wing conspiracy and the voices of legitimate concern. Money-grubbing is always the ugly place with the Clintons, who have devoured $2.1 billion in con- tributions since 1992 to their polit- ical campaigns, family foundation and philanthropies, according to The Old (Good) New Republic. David Axelrod, the author of a new memoir, Believer, wrote that Hillary’s past gurus, Morris and Penn, were nonbelievers — mercenary, manipu- lative and avaricious. He told Politi- co’s Glenn Thrush that he would have advised Hillary not to cash in with her ERRNDQGVL[¿JXUHVSHHFKHV Axelrod reiterated to me that Hillary’s designated campaign chairman, John Podesta, Bill Clin- ton’s last chief of staff who left his post as an Obama counselor Friday, “has the strength and standing to enforce a kind of campaign disci- pline that hasn’t existed before.” But, for now, what Republicans say about government is true of the Clintons: They really do believe that your money belongs to them. Someday, they should give their tin cup to the Smithsonian. It’s one of the wonders of the world. The ongoing kaffeeklatsch on race With crisis at the door, Congress leaves town I brutal tool of that system. At another point, Com- As Comey put it, “One rea- ey states that cynicism “be- son we cannot forget our comes almost irresistible and maybe even rational n our collective imaginations, law enforcement legacy is by some lights.” This is we tend to conceive of the that the people we serve and protect cannot forget it, dangerous and uncondi- constantly called-for “national either.” tionally false. “Lazy men- conversation on race” as having His second hard truth tal shortcuts” — in other ZRUGV UDFLDO SUR¿OLQJ ² the formality of some grand acknowledged the exis- isn’t rational in any light. It tence of unconscious racial ere is the speech Jeff expected to complete our tasks. conclave of consciousness bias “in our white-majority violates not only an Amer- Charles ican principle but also a Blow Merkley or Ron Wyden Why should we have empathy — an American Truth and FXOWXUH´DQGKRZWKDWLQÀX- human one: that no person Reconciliation equivalent, a ences policing. should have delivered on the for our national legislators who should be punished for the Third, he acknowledged ÀRRU RI WKH 86 6HQDWH EHIRUH leave town with essential work spiritual spectacle in which sins that people in law enforcement can crimes or sins of another. are confessed and blame taken GHYHORS ³GLIIHUHQW ÀDYRUV RI F\QL- His fourth hard truth focused on its recess last week. incomplete. cism” that can be “lazy mental short- how crimes among “many young “Mr. President: I rise to note They will tell us that this and burdens lifted. This may be ideal, but it is cuts,” resulting in more pronounced men of color become part of that of- that we and our House colleagues time to visit with constituents ¿FHU¶V OLIH H[SHULHQFH´ %XW LQ VHHN- also exceedingly unlikely in this UDFLDOSUR¿OLQJ are leaving town while pressing is valuable. And so it is. But country, particularly in this political But as in all discussions, there ing to offer context, he mentioned were portions of the speech to which “environments lacking role models, EXVLQHVV UHPDLQV XQ¿QLVKHG the job of legislators gets done environment. adequate education, and decent em- I took exception. We all know that funding for ZLWKLQ WKH FRQ¿QHV RI WKH WZR There will be no great atoning. First, Comey seems to falsely ployment.” Here he moves perilously the Department of Homeland legislative chambers. Reparations will not be paid. There FRQÀDWH FRQGHPQDWLRQ RI SRRU SR- close to a racial pathology argument, Security has not been secured Adding insult to all of this was will no sprawling abso- licing — sometimes as if there were something inherent in lution. predatory policing, in blackness and black culture that pre- past the end of this month. We House Speaker John Bohner’s We are in Yet we can still have particular — with a disposes one to criminality. This, too, know there is a gap between statement on Sunday that he a productive conversa- condemnation of all is a “lazy mental shortcut.” what the House has passed and ZDV ¿QH ZLWK VKXWWLQJ GRZQ tion. Indeed, I would the midst of What too few people mention policing. He makes a straw man argument, when discussing crime is the degree what the Senate has done. We the Department of Homeland argue that we are in the a national midst of a national con- “Law enforcement is to which concentrated poverty, hope- also all know that only four Security. versation about race at not the root cause of lessness and despair are the cham- conversation legislative days remain to resolve How irresponsible. this very moment. Its problems in our hard- bermaids of violence and incivility. this before the Department of The Washington Post last VLJQL¿FDQFHLVQ¶WGUDZQ about race est hit neighborhoods.” These factors are developed and maintained through a complicated Who said it was? Homeland Security runs out of )ULGD\ GHVFULEHG WKH ¿[ WKDW from structure but from at this very interplay of structural biases — his- the freedom of its form. This is a twisting funds. Republicans are in by playing Every discussion of motive and purpose torical and current — interpersonal moment. “Mr. President: What must a game of intramural chicken, over a backyard fence of the voices of recent biases, environmental reinforcements Americans think of us – leaving with the Homeland Security or a cup of coffee is protesters that under- and personal choices. Even as I disagree on portions, I RXU RI¿FHV DW WKH KHDUW RI RXU Department as the hostage — so part of that conversation. It is the very mines and mischaracterizes both. continuity of its casualness that bol- Minority communities want policing take the larger point, and I applaud government here in Washington soon after taking control of the sters its profundity. the same as any other, but they want the endeavor and its purpose. Comey before the work is done? That House and Senate and pledging We need to stop calling for the it to be appropriate and proportion- seems to be making a genuine effort conversation and realize that we are al. They want not to be afraid of the to be part of the conversation and the is a choice the average working no government shutdowns. cops as well as the criminals. They solution, and that is more than I can American does not have.” Congress’ vacation in the already having it. Last week the FBI director, James ZDQWRI¿FHUVWRGLVSOD\DQHTXLWDEOH say for some. In those words Wyden or midst of government turmoil Comey, added his voice to that con- modicum of discernment in treating One doesn’t have to possess the Merkley would have laid out emphasizes the gap between versation, particularly as it relates the law-abiding differently from the certitude of gospel to have a posi- tive impact on this discussion — for for their colleagues why the our world and that inhabited by to the relationship between law en- lawbreaking. themselves and others. Just an earnest forcement and communities of color. The discussion is not about police House and Senate have become congressmen and senators. We There were portions I found particu- RI¿FHUVEHLQJD³URRWFDXVHRISURE- desire for insight and mutual under- national embarrassments. know that in terms of pay and larly potent coming from a man in his lems” in a given neighborhood, but standing. The basic disconnect pensions they are a privileged position. This is more than one can say of rather that they shouldn’t be a prob- the hard of heart, those resistant to He gave a list of “hard truths,” the lem at all, anywhere. We are not geo- between the legislative branch class. What’s galling is that our ¿UVWRIZKLFKZDVDQDGPLVVLRQWKDW JUDSKLFDOO\FRQ¿QHG:HFDQPRYHLQ engagement and, therefore, beyond and the rest of America is work federal lawmakers are becoming the history of law enforcement in and out of high-crime neighborhoods. enlightenment. The stone cannot schedule. Most of us out here an irresponsible and privileged this country was not only part of the We can’t move in and out of our absorb no matter how much you drench it. architecture of oppression but also a own skin. show up for work, and we are class. H Federal lawmakers are an irresponsible and privileged class By CHARLES M. BLOW New York Times News Service