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OPINION 6A THE DAILY ASTORIAN TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2016 Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager This is a pragmatic minimum wage law How did leaders draw lines between county tiers? olitics is renowned for being the art of the possible. That is the most appropriate way of looking at the minimum wage law that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed last Thursday. The law — which sched- comes out of the University ules pay increases within of Washington.” The Center for Women’s three tiers of counties across the state — was designed to Welfare at UW says that, 6elf-6uf¿ciency head off more extreme plans, “The such as the $15 Now cam- 6tandard de¿nes how much paign. The new law lowers families need to meet basic the wage threshold for busi- needs without the help of nesses in counties outside the public or private assistance.” So the price of housing is state’s hottest economies. It also gives those businesses one of the major variants in separating Oregon counties. time to adjust. Clatsop County, along with We still do not know pre- Tillamook and Columbia, is cisely how legislators inside in the middle tier of counties. the room decided where to In July the minimum wage draw the line between the across the state will move tiers. Legislative leaders from $9.25 to $9.75. Then, should tell us about that. For many Clatsop County Clatsop County’s minimum wage will climb in stair- small- and mid-sized busi- steps, reaching $13.50 over ness, paying a rising mini- mum wage will be a squeeze. six years. Negotiations over these It should be said, however, tiers were done behind closed that the ¿nancial demand of doors. There was no hear- the new law will be easier to ing to explain them. Paris bear than what’s planned for Achen of our statehouse the November ballot. If you bureau reports that legislators are pragmatist and a realist, looked “at how much was this was a decent outcome needed in each county to be within Oregon’s political self-suf¿cient. The research climate. P Supreme Court needs real world experience W e learned last week that President Obama is vetting an Iowa federal appellate judge for the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. There is a political angle in this, of course. Judge Jane L. Kelly was praised heavily by Iowa’s Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, during her prior con¿rmation hearing. Grassley is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Kelly won eventual Senate con¿rmation by a wide mar- gin. Grassley and Kelly are Iowans. Thus a Kelly nom- ination to the Supreme Court would be dif¿cult for Grassley to ignore. Beyond the political cal- culus, there is an appeal- ing aspect to the prospect of Judge Kelly’s being nomi- nated. She would bring real- world perspective to the court. She has worked as a crimi- nal defense lawyer. The Des Moines Register noted last week that, “Former prosecu- tors, government lawyers and scholars make up most of the bench today. Kelly stands out as a federal public defender who represented several of the most recognizable names to face criminal prosecution in Iowa courtrooms.” The malady that afÀicts the Supreme Court is that justices mainly come from a narrow and rare¿ed slice of academia, think tanks and government law. They lack ¿rst-hand experience with courtroom advocacy in crim- inal trials or even with han- dling non-criminal clients. Judge Kelly has said that in the course of her criminal defense work she has spent so much time inside prisons that she’s probably served the equivalent of a sentence for a misdemeanor. It is anybody’s guess how this will turn out. President Obama is smart to seek a nominee such as Judge Kelly. Editorials that appear on this page are written by Publisher Steve Forrester and Matt Winters, editor of the Chinook Observer and Coast River Business Journal, or staff members from the EO Media *roup¶s sister newspapers Brynn Anderson/AP Photo Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves to the crowd before he speaks during a campaign rally Saturday, in Orlando, Fla. Chickens, home to roost By MAUREEN DOWD New York Times News Service ASHINGTON — Here’s why the Trump campaign is wicked fun: W I watched Donald Trump in New York for decades, as a bachelor swanning, a party ¿xture mingling, a master of bling and bluster. I went with him on his art- ¿lled plane in 1999 as he dipped his toe in the presiden- tial pool and saw him shyly approach his ¿rst political rope line, even Maureen as he bragged Dowd that other can- didates didn’t draw as many cameras or have a supermodel by their side. So I can assure you of two things. No one is more shocked at how far, how fast, Trump has come than Trump. Watching him morph into a pol in real time and wriggle away from the junior-varsity GOP chuckleheads try- ing to tackle him is hypnotic. He’s like the blond alien in the 1995 movie “Species,” who mutates from ova to adult in months, regenerating and recon¿guring at warp speed to escape the establishment, kill everyone in sight and eliminate the human race. The other thing I know is that Trump really wants to be president. It isn’t a joke anymore. People who are told that they should be president get infected. The less quali¿ed and pre- pared they are, like Dan Quayle and W., the less they worry. And the more quali¿ed and prepared they are, like Colin Powell and Mario Cuomo, the more they can tie themselves in Jesu- itical knots. The most enjoyable thing about the Trump phenomenon has been watching him make monkeys out of a lot of people who had it coming. Marco Rubio, a frothy focus- grouped concoction whose main quali¿cations to be president consist of a nice smile and an easy wit, has been mocking Trump as a con man. Real estate developers are con men by nature, trying to get what they want at the lowest price and sell it at the highest price, overpromising how great it’s going to be. As Maria Konnikova, the author of The Con¿dence *ame, notes, con men are created by the yearning of their marks “to believe in something that gives life meaning. … Their genius lies in ¿guring out what, pre- cisely, it is we want, and how they can present themselves as the perfect vehicle for delivering on that desire.” It’s delicious watching the neo- con men who tricked the country and gulled the naive W. into the Iraq inva- sion go ballistic trying to stop the Gotham con man. Bill Kristol of The Weekly Stan- dard wrote an outraged column about why there wasn’t more outrage at Trump, who correctly pointed out that Americans were deceived into a cata- strophic war. Kristol, the midwife to three deba- cles — Dan Quayle, Iraq and Sarah Palin — solicited suggestions for the name of the new party that Repub- licans will have to start if Trump secures the nomination. How about “Losers”? Eliot Cohen, a former W. State Department of¿cial who pushed to “liberate” Iraq, said Trump would be “an unmitigated disaster for American foreign policy.” And Robert Kagan, who backed the Iraq War, said “the only choice will be to vote for Hillary Clinton.” Max Boot concurred. Gerald Herbert/AP Photo Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump makes a boxing ges- ture while greeting the crowd after speaking at a campaign rally in New Orleans, Friday. It’s amazing, having been tainted roar, evoking memories of Molly by the worst foreign policy disaster in Ivins’ observation about Buchanan’s American history, that the Republican 1992 culture wars speech, that it was national security intelligentsia would translated from the original German. unite against a Trump presidency Trump, who was slow to disavow in an open letter, charging that he David Duke and the Klan, stokes the would “make America less safe” and gladiatorial fever, leading to minori- “diminish our standing in the world.” ties being roughed up and the press Sort of like the Iraq invasion? being bullied. His mocking of a Even though he made some good Times reporter with a disability was points, especially about grotesque. the Trump Steaks shame He has a tenuous spiral, it’s pretty rich relationship with the Trump to have Mitt Romney, truth and an inch-deep really the man who called on understanding of pol- 11 million people to icy. Although it is com- wants “self-deport,” talking pelling when he says he about Trump’s bigotry. would surround himself to be Trump was right with an A team in the about Romney. When president. White House, his cam- you lose a race that you paign is not chock-a- It isn’t should have won by block with A-team play- being an inept phony, ers. On Friday, his team a joke you can’t call this year’s put out a press release front-runner an inept Trump would anymore. saying phony. campaign this week- It’s delightful to see end in a town called the encrusted political king-making “Witchita” in the state of “Kanasas.” class utter a primal scream as Trump And he has not brought on heavy- smashes their golden apple cart. He’s weights who could bring him up to a real threat to the cozy, greedy, ole- speed on substance. aginous cartel, their own Creature He has a nasty gift for dragging from the Black Lagoon. everyone down to his own vulgar For all the Republican estab- level. Presidential campaigns should lishment’s self-righteous bleating, not be about belittling people’s Trump is nothing more than an unvar- appearances or bragging about your nished, cruder version. For years, it own appendages. Whatever his Àaws, has fanned, stoked and exploited the Obama has reinforced our desire for worst angels among the nativists, rac- class in presidents. ists, Pharisees and angry white men, After doubling down on his out- concurring in anti-immigrant mea- rageous statements and saying he sures, restricting minority voting, would force the military to follow whipping up anti-Planned Parenthood his orders to break international laws hysteria and enabling gun nuts. involving torture and murdering ter- How lame was it that after say- rorists’ families, Trump said on Fri- ing he was a crazy choice, Rubio, Ted day that he would not do that. Good Cruz, Paul Ryan and John McCain to know. turned around and said they will sup- In a rare show of regret, he said port Trump if he’s the nominee? he does “understand that the United After watching Hillary Clin- States is bound by laws and treaties ton, for whom campaigning is a nui- and I will not order our military or sance, and Barack Obama, who dis- other of¿cials to violate those laws dains politics, it’s fun to see someone and will seek their advice on such having fun. Like Bill Clinton, Trump matters.” talks and talks to crowds. They feed Trump sees his egregious posi- his narcissism, and in turn, he cre- tions on immigration, torture and ter- ates an intimacy even in an arena rorism revenge as opening bids. After that leaves both sides awash in plea- Super Tuesday, he told reporters that sure. It’s easy to believe him when he while they might be surprised, he says that, unlike President Obama, would be a “uni¿er, once we get all of he would enjoy endlessly negotiating this ¿nished.” with obstructionists and those on the But he should take a lesson from other side of the aisle. Condi Rice. She went along with That’s the wicked fun part. But the Iraq invasion, thinking she could reposition W. on the side of diplo- then there’s the simply wicked part. Trump wants to be seen as Ron- macy afterward. But some posi- ald Reagan but often he’s more like tions are so extreme, there’s no com- Pat Buchanan, playing to the crowd’s ing back. Your deal with the devil is prejudices just to hear the bloodthirsty sealed.
