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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2016 FRIDAY EXCHANGE AP Photo/Evan Vucci Ivanka Trump, right, looks on as her father, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, delivers a policy speech on child care Tuesday in Aston, Penn. Hillary sharpens, Trump softens. But he’s rising inhabit a living hell and there- fore have nothing to lose by voting for him hovers some- where between condescension and insult. ASHINGTON — If But, as every living you are the status commentator has noted, the quo candidate in foray into African-American a change election in which precincts was not aimed at the national mood is sour and winning black votes but at two-thirds of the electorate countering Trump’s general think the country is image as the bigoted on the wrong track, candidate of white what do you do? people. Attack. Relentlessly. Result? A curious Paint your opponent dynamic in which as extremist, vola- Clinton keeps upping tile, clueless, unit, the accusatory ante dangerous. just as Trump Indeed, Hillary keeps softening In an act Clinton’s latest his tone — until national ad, inds herself of brazen she featuring major way over the Republican pol- rebranding, top, landing iticians echoing in a basket of that indictment deplorables, a they set of Donald phrase that will out to Trump, ends haunt her until thus: “Unit. Election Day. endow Dangerous. (Politics 101: Even for Never attack the him with Republicans.” voter.) That was (2) The stature and the theme immigration empathy. wobble. A week of Clinton’s famous “alt- of nonstop right” speech and of much of word salad about illegal her $100 million worth of ads. immigration left everyone Problem is, it’s not confused about what Trump working. really believes. Genius. The Over the last month, only message to emerge from Trump’s new team, led by the rhetorical fog is that he is Kellyanne Conway, has done talking about deportation worked single-mindedly to and/or legalization. The very blunt that line of attack on the discussion is off the table until theory that if he can just cross years down the road. the threshold of acceptability, Case closed. Toxic issue he wins. In an act of brazen detoxiied. rebranding, they set out to Again, that’s not going to endow him with stature and win him the Hispanic vote. empathy. But that wasn’t the point. The Stature was acquired in point was to soften his image Mexico, whose president in the Philadelphia suburbs, inexplicably gave Trump the pundit shorthand for white opportunity to stand on the college-educated women that world stage with a national Republicans have to win (and leader and more than hold where Trump trails Romney his own. It’s the same stature 2012 by 10 points). Which booster U.S. Sen. Barack brings us to: Obama pulled off when he (3) The blockbuster stood with the French presi- childcare proposal. Unveiled dent at a news conference in Tuesday, it is liberalism at Paris in 2008. its best, Big Government at That was part one: Trump its biggest: tax deductions, the statesman. Part two: the tax rebates (i.e. cash), and a kinder gentler Trump. federal mandate of six weeks Nervy. Can you really of paid maternity leave. The repackage the boasting, biggest entitlement since, bullying, bombastic, insulting, well, Obamacare. insensitive Trump into a But wait. Didn’t Trump’s mellow and caring version? acolytes assure us that he With two months to go? In spoke for those betrayed a digital age in which every by the sold-out, elitist, past outrage is preserved on GOP establishment that for imperishable video? years refused to stand up Turns out, yes. How? to Obama’s overweening Delect and deny — and pre- mandates, Big Government tend it never happened. Where proligacy and budget-busting are they now — the birther- entitlements? ism, the deportation force, the No matter. That was scorn for teleprompters, the yesterday. There is no past. mocking of candidates who Nor a future — at least for take outside money? Down Ivanka-care. It would never the memory hole. get through the GOP House. Orwell was wrong. You Nor is it meant to. It is don’t need repression. You meant to signal what George need only the sensory over- H. W. Bush once memorably load of an age of numbingly read off a cue card. “Message: ephemeral social media. In I care.” this surreal election season, And where do you think there is no past. Trump gave this dish-the- Clinton ads keep showing Whigs cradle-to-college actual Trump sound bites entitlement speech? Why, the meant to shock. Yet her num- Philadelphia suburbs! bers are dropping, his rising. Can’t get more transparent How? Trump never goes than that. Or shameless. Or on the defensive. He merely brilliant. creates new Trumps. Hence: And it’s working. (1) The African-American OREGON CAPITAL blitz. It’s a new pose and the novelty shows. Trump is not very familiar with the lan- guage. He occasionally slips, Get the inside for example, into referring to scoop on state government “the blacks.” And his argu- and politics! ment that African-Americans By CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER Washington Post Writers Group W INSIDER Library questions Calling foul D T escribing a problem is the irst step in solving it. So far, Astoria’s city council has only offered a title: Library. Oh – and three council- ors did inally, after extended, ill-designed discussion, vote to try to scrape up a minimal sum for a renovation of cur- rent facilities, which prompted expert warnings of expen- sive errors. No wonder the ive councilors who voted on an array of scenarios failed to satisfy a seeming majority of voters. I, for one, appreciate the beautiful new libraries at Naselle, Washington, and Sea- side as civic ornaments. I’ll offer some questions which should help achieve a useful description of the prob- lem: Is a signiicant dollar expenditure appropriate in order to achieve a major civic ornament? Can we quantify that value? How many patrons use the public library today, compared with 10 (or 20) years ago? How does circulation com- pare, over a similar time span? How have online down- loads to personal devices (tablets, iPods, Kindles, smartphones, etc.) affected circulation? How does the Asto- ria Library compare with the libraries at Clatsop Commu- nity College and Astoria High School? Choices made today will affect the library, which has belonged to all 10,000-plus Astorians for a century or more. The city council owes taxpayers deliberate, compe- tent problem-solving. I’d like to see a ballot measure based upon such a study. RALPH WIRFS Astoria his is in response to the editorial “Agricultural decisions should be based on facts” (The Daily Astorian, Aug. 30). The suggestion in this editorial that neonicoti- noids’ impact on bee popula- tions is “folklore” and “postur- ing” is insulting. Of course that is the editor’s stance. Most of the newspaper’s parent compa- ny’s revenue comes from agri- culture. But please, don’t play your readers for stupid. Here is another quali- ied long term study suggest- ing there is, indeed, enough evidence to suggest a link: “Nearly two decades of data reinforce concerns that pesti- cides are really bad for bees,” mentioned Aug. 16 in the Washington Post. I can pro- duce more links to studies say- ing the same thing. The editor’s last sentence, though, was a real corker: “ … we must bear in mind that ter- restrial and aquatic farmers are the best stewards among us.” Yep. Business can always be trusted to put people and the environment before prof- its. Right. Some farmers are, indeed, good stewards. But corporate farming, not so much. It’s that proit thing. Geneticists are increas- ingly inding convincing evi- dence that chemical exposure in humans (whether ingested, inhaled, or simply exposed to) can show up in the genes of subsequent generations. Agri- cultural fertilizer runoff is hav- ing impacts — sometimes dev- astating — on rivers, aquifers and even the oceans, so much so that experts say potable water will be a serious issue in the second half of this century. There simply aren’t enough long term studies to say with any certainty that the chemi- cal manufacturers’ claims of 5A “safety” are valid. With all the “cides,” be them “insecta” or “pesti” or “herba” that we are applying to our crops and soil, we are playing Russian roulette with the environment and our genetics. In the game of Rus- sian roulette, sooner or later the gun goes off. BILL GRAFFIUS Gearhart What’s a liberal? f you think it’s OK to union- ize public employees who are over-protected, making it next to impossible to ire a worthless employee, you’re probably a liberal. If you have no problem with the unions taking dues from all employees, and sup- porting only the Democratic party with those dues, you’re probably a liberal. If you think it’s OK for the unions, with the help of the Democratic party, to negoti- ate wages and beneits that far exceed those in the private sec- tor, you’re probably a liberal. If it doesn’t bother you that unions are one of the main rea- sons that our local and fed- eral governments can’t bal- ance a budget, you’re probably a liberal. If you don’t think we have enough labor laws to protect the working class, without the need of unions, you’re proba- bly a liberal. With this kind of thinking, I’m guessing that you also have no problem with the illegal aliens’ devastation to our coun- try, either. Yes, you’re a liberal. With these being some of our most major problems, and the fact that they get big support from both Hillary Clinton and the liberals, our country is in real trouble. God, please help us. JIM ELVIN Salem I Keep beneits I am a public school teacher serving Clatsop County. Every day I am on the front lines, and I am proud to keep my commitment to my community. When ireighters, nurses, and teachers like me were hired, our employers offered salary and beneits packages that we agreed to accept. The work we do is dificult, and sometimes dangerous. Sta- ble compensation packages ensure that state, county and city employers can recruit and retain a qualiied workforce that doesn’t turn over every year or so. Even so, retirement bene- its have already been reduced substantially for the public workforce. It is disheartening when powerful people call on our employers to change the rules and further reduce our retirement beneits, especially when those calls are based on false information. Here is the reality: There have been two lengthy and expensive Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) lawsuits that brought bigger pension shortfalls, and the Ore- gon Supreme Court has made it clear that employers cannot reduce beneits further. There isn’t a single proposal being put forth today that would withstand legal muster, or make a signiicant reduction in the state’s pension bill without threatening our retirement. Instead of entering another round of costly legal ights, it’s time for the state to pay its debt through the normal budgeting process. Real leadership from Gov. Brown and state lawmak- ers will move the state forward and keep the promises made to workers like me. CHUCK ALBRIGHT Astoria LETTERS WELCOME Letters should be exclusive to The Daily Astorian. We do not publish open letters or third-party letters. Letters should be fewer than 350 words and must include the writer’s name, address and phone numbers. You will be contacted to conirm authorship. All letters are subject to editing for space, grammar and, on occasion, factual accuracy and verbal veriication of authorship. Only two letters per writer are printed each month. Letters written in response to other letter writers should address the issue at hand and, rather than mentioning the writer by name, should refer to the headline and date the let- ter was published. Discourse should be civil and people should be referred to in a respect- ful manner. Letters referring to news stories should also mention the headline and date of publication. Submissions may be sent in any of these ways: E-mail to editor@dailyastorian.com; Online form at www.dailyastorian.com; Delivered to the Astorian ofices at 949 Exchange St. and 1555 N. Roosevelt in Seaside. Or by mail to Letters to the Editor, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103
